


(don't be afraid) to fall in love

by writingthepostcard



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, American College, M/M, Pranks, Sorority, frat boy!niall, fraternity, harry is adorable and awkward, liam is a teaching assistant, louis hits on liam, zayn is the tortured student
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-19 03:53:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3595317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingthepostcard/pseuds/writingthepostcard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Liam is a teaching assistant and is best friends with Niall—President of Alpha Kappa Lambda—who wants to recruit Harry, who may or may not be in love with Louis, who constantly flirts with Liam, who really, honestly, wants to know why Zayn has to be in the class he is teaching...because that’s all he can think about.</p>
<p>(note: this fic was previously titled "The TA").</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The One Where It's Freshman Tuesday

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. My name is Raven, and welcome to this fic that was requested to me via Tumblr, grew legs, got married, and had quintuplets. This fic has been in progress for probably over two years. It's been sitting in my doc list untouched for over six months. I figured I would be motivated to write/finish it if I posted it on here as chapters. Which... is my weird way to motivate myself, I suppose. 
> 
> With that being said, I will try to go over each chapter before I post it, but I can't promise that the grammar/consistency of tense will be on point. I am horrible with that kind of stuff, and though my beta probably fixed all of my mistakes, I most likely messed it back up when I went to re-edit it. Sorry D: 
> 
> Also, the title is temporary--I'm just really bad at thinking of titles. 
> 
> It would be awesome if y'all would read and comment to tell me what you think! Enjoy! x
> 
> **WARNING FOR CHAPTER ONE:** There are mentions of claustrophobia in this particular chapter; it is brief and discussed briefly, but if that is a trigger for any readers you might want to stop here.
> 
> Follow me on my writing Tumblr for updates! writingthepostcard.tumblr.com

The thing about being best friends with Niall Horan is that you learn from day one that time spent with him is never _boring_.

So that’s why it’s easy for Liam to accept the fact that he is not only woken up to Niall barging into his bedroom wearing a cowboy hat and a bikini top, but also that he’s being woken up at 8 o’clock in the morning.

“Rise and shine!”

Suddenly there is a whistle being blown in his ear, and Liam jumps, his arm flailing into the air and right into Niall’s whistle-occupied mouth.

“Ow!”

“ _OW_!”

“Jesus Li—whady’a do that for?” Niall shrieks as he’s running out of the bedroom to the bathroom where Liam presumes Niall is getting a wet cloth for his bleeding lip.

“Well I wouldn’t have done it if you weren’t blowing into my ear while I was sleeping!” Liam shouts back, flopping back onto his bed.

Niall returns with a stained wet cloth pressed firmly onto his lip, “I was just excited.”

“What for? And why at such a freakin’ early hour?”

Niall frowns slightly, and Liam can’t help but be reminded of a small child in a playground who just lost his favorite sand box pail.

“Well, it’s Tuesday.” At this Liam snorts and pushes past Niall to make his way to the kitchen. Niall follows him, “It’s not just any Tuesday—it’s _Freshman Tuesday_!”

Liam rolls his eyes and pours himself a bowl of cereal, looking around the apartment he and Niall shared. It was small, sure, but for two boys in college who were either at the library (Liam) or partying (Niall) most days, it sufficed. It also had all of the essentials, and that’s all they needed.

Once Liam pours his bowl, he plops down onto the couch, Niall following him with his own bowl.

Everyone on campus, whether a commuter or resident, has heard of Freshman Tuesday. It was sort of a tradition at their school, and even though it was practically run by their rambunctious Greek life, the administration always seemed to turn a blind eye as long as there were no serious injuries.  

It makes Liam cringe just thinking about it.

“Don’t you think Freshman Tuesday is a bit—“

“What?” Niall asks, a spoonful of milk dribbling onto his chin “Liberating? Hilarious? _Entertaining_?“

Liam blinks at him, “Cruel?”

Niall looks shocked, “What we do is not cruel. It is simply a rude awakening we give to ensure that the students know what they are getting themselves into when they join Greek life.”

“Not all of the students are going to join your fraternity, ya know,” Liam points out, “So why go through all of this trouble of possibly traumatizing the freshman if maybe three or four decide to go for Kappa?”

Niall gapes at him, offended, “Three or four? We get at least ten every semester!” When Liam sighs Niall points a finger at him,  “And don’t use your psychology bullshit on me, Li. Freshman Tuesday is hardly traumatizing—“

“--Says poor Nick Grimshaw from two years ago, who had to transfer schools after the Kappa’s and Omega’s joined forces and saran wrapped not only his entire residence hall, but the bathrooms as well!” Liam reports.

Niall stills at this, but smiles hastily, “We thought it was hilarious. And we didn't know--”

“Nick was _claustrophobic_!”

“It was entertaining for the most part.” Niall says defensively.

“ _Traumatizing_.” Liam says right back.

“You’re no fun, Liam.” Niall says, “You gotta live a little. So maybe we went a little too far with that particular prank. But we got eight awesome pledges from that hall that semester.”

Liam shifts in his seat, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. He loves Niall, he does, and ever since they met at Orientation and Niall shared his box of crackers with him, they’d been best buddies. And yeah, Niall joined a fraternity and Liam didn’t, but they still remained best friends.

And even if that were the case, and even though Liam has been in and out of the Greek life world, it still intimidates him a bit. And when Niall talks about Kappa stuff and Greek business, he really tries not to listen at all.

He’ll stick to his psychology major, where it’s safe and the people are nice.

“Yeah, well, maybe since you’re the president this semester, you could use your power for good and not evil.”

Niall stifles a laugh, “Not happening. I’d be replaced in an instant. Though, I _still_ don’t know why my chapter voted for me.”

Liam stands to put his bowl in the sink and turns to face him, “It’s because you promised all of the boys blowjobs from the Sigma girls, and a lifetime supply of beer and Twinkies.”

Niall laughs heartily at this, “Idiots, the bunch of them. They don’t even _make_ Twinkies anymore.”

“You’re calling _them_ idiots?” Liam asks, “Do you even see what you look like right now?”

Niall just waves his hand at him dismissively, ignoring the bikini top hanging past his nipples, “It’s all part of Freshman Tuesday, Li. If you had just accepted Kappa’s bid with me freshman year, you would—“

“Be a drunken asshole with no job, no ambition and blue balls.” Liam finishes, his eyes shining in amusement.

Niall grins at him widely, “Oh, I love it when you talk dirty, baby.”

Liam rolls his eyes at his friend and makes his way back to his room to get ready for the day. Since it’s the beginning of the semester (hence why Freshman Tuesday is commencing), Liam is very busy. He had gotten acceptance into the Undergraduate Teaching Assistant program, and will be a teaching assistant to Dr. Cowell’s Psych 101 course. Liam isn’t the biggest fan of Dr. Cowell, but it’s good pay and looks great on a resume, so Liam will take what he can get. On top of the program, he has graduate school applications to fill out, recommendation letters to receive, and his final research project to perfect.

Whoever said senior year was going to be easy was clearly a liar.

A few moments after Liam had gathered all of his materials for the day, Niall poked his head into his room,

“What’s your plan for the day?”

Liam smiled softly to himself; one thing he loved (and hated) about Niall is that he always asked Liam what his schedule was. Niall had this thing about knowing where he was at all times—Niall swears its for ‘pranking purposes only’, but Liam really knows its because if there was an emergency, Niall would always know where he was.

Liam found it totally endearing that a frat boy had a caring, protective side. But he’ll never let Niall know that.

“I have class from nine to eleven, then UTA from twelve to two, a research meeting at two-thirty, and then I’ll probably be in the library until it closes.”

Niall just stares at him in shock and Liam sighs, “What? I have a busy semester.”

“But Liaaaam!” Niall whines, “It’s our senior year. We have to live it up! That’s why senior year exists. In reality, we could all graduate our junior year if we tried hard enough—but college give us that extra year to fuck around and live. It. Up. You can’t deny the university what it wants out of us, Liam.”

Liam is almost impressed by Niall and that he seems to be taking his criminal law and debate major seriously and was able to sound even a little bit convincing.

A little bit. Because it’s Niall.

“This school also wants us all to graduate. On time. With a promising future. We’re supposed to set an example. _Be the example_.” Liam reminds him as he uses air quotations. Niall just groans.

“What a _stupid_ motto. Could this school get any more lame?”

“Welcome to Modesman,” Liam mutters. “So what are your plans for the day?”

Niall blinks innocently and looks down at his bikini top before opening his mouth, but Liam holds up a hand to silence him,

“Stop, Just whatever you were going to say, _don’t_. I regret even asking you that question.”

The corners of Niall’s mouth turn upwards. “Your loss.” He pauses to look at the clock on Liam’s bedside table and his eyes widen only slightly, “It’s 8:35, you’re going to be late for—“

“Class! Shit!” He grabs his bag and lifts it onto his shoulder, ruffling Niall’s hair (“You need to _stop doing that_ , you little shit.”) before he was out of the apartment and on his way to his class.

 

~*~

 

Liam likes having an early class. He thinks its because he learns better that way, but really it’s because all of the harder, more selective classes are offered in the mornings.

So he likes a little bit of a challenge—he knows it will only help him later on in life.

He leaves his research methods class with a smile on his face and he heads to the dining hall per Niall’s text message.

**From: Niall  
** _dining hall, after class. freshman tuesday commences_

When Liam didn’t answer because _no_ , Niall sends him another message.

**From: Niall  
** _i’ll buy you a week’s worth of take out from emperor wok if you come…_

Liam still doesn’t reply. He can pay for food on his own, thank you very much.

Another text from Niall comes through.

**From: Niall  
** _how about a blowjob from one of the girls from sigma?_

At this Liam replies, because _really_?

**To: Niall  
** _you already promised all of kappa bjs…its not special._

**From: Niall  
** _alright then, bjs from one of the gamma boys? ;)_

Liam rolls his eyes and stuffs his phone back into his pocket, feeling heat rush to his cheeks.

Liam’s known he’s been bisexual since he met Niall, and, though he told Niall just last year and is comfortable with himself, Liam hasn’t found a girl or guy that he really connected with.

There was Danielle and the end of his freshman year. She was beautiful and she made really good pancakes. But once the year ended, Liam realized that while she was a nice girl, she wasn’t for him.

In terms of guys, there was only one. His name was Caleb—a boy he had met two summers ago on vacation. Liam had liked Caleb because he was smart, made Liam laugh, and also loved all things comic books. They spent all of the three weeks Liam was there together, and he was also Liam’s first.

But after they parted ways, they never kept in contact. And though Liam was slightly heartbroken, he understood. It was just a fling, a _summer_ fling, and it wasn’t meant to be anything more than that.

So when Niall makes comments about getting blowjobs from different guys, it almost makes Liam uncomfortable. Because though he knows he liked guys (and he knows Niall means well), he doesn’t necessarily like to be whored out.

Regardless, once out of Wilson Hall, he makes his way to the dining hall, because he has a feeling Niall is going to make a fool of himself. And there is no way Liam is going to miss that.

He makes it from Wilson Hall to the dining hall in record time. He swipes into the dining hall and looks for Niall, unsurprised not to find him anywhere. He settles for getting a small table near the entrance of the dining hall and grabs a sandwich and a water bottle. He settles down in his seat and glances around the room expectantly, waiting for whatever it is Niall has planned.

Normally, on Freshman Tuesday, things take place in the courtyard just outside of the dorm complex. All chaos, which includes but is not limited to: snowball fights (yes, even in September), go carts and live animals usually has a duration of two hours before students go back to class and wait for what happens at the welcoming bonfire that is thrown every year by Lake Grace.

So Liam is surprised that things are starting off in the dining hall. He knows that there is no way Niall was able to get this to happen behind the administrations back.

But then again, Liam thinks, it’s _Niall_. Literally, the possibilities are endless when it comes to him. And though Niall isn’t a dedicated student like Liam, he has enormous amounts of charm. He practically has the president of the school wrapped around his finger.

It’s something that Liam will never understand.

Just as he is taking his first bite of his sandwich, the lights of the dining hall go out, and a deep voice (which can only be Niall’s) is heard over the speakers,

“Hello freshman, and welcome to Modesman University, where you are supposed to be the example! Today is Tuesday. And for you freshman, this day is dedicated to _youuuuuuu_!”

Liam rolls his eyes at the dramatics of it all and takes another bite of his sandwich, completely unfazed while he looks around the room. The looks of amusement, fear, and contemplation on the freshman’s faces make him stifle a laugh.

Okay, so he _might_ see where the entertaining part of Freshman Tuesday comes into effect.

“Annnnnd now,” Niall’s voice booms again, “As a welcoming gift to you, from the gentlemen of Alpha Kappa Lambda, we present to you: A Bubble of Color!”

After that, a whole bunch of things happened at once: first, three different strobe lights as well as fog machines appeared and started going off at a rapid pace. Then, foam from the balcony above the dining hall started falling and was rapidly covering the floor. It was soon enough that students were slipping over their feet, seeing as they couldn’t see because of the fog. Then, as a finishing touch, random splatters of paint started shooting from left and right (which would explain the water guns Liam found in the hall closet), leaving the dining hall a wet and colorful mess.

A Bubble of Color. Liam gets it now.

Niall really is an _idiot_.

He finishes his sandwich and makes a quick escape for the back exit of the dining hall. Luckily for him, going to the same school for four years has its advantages—one of those being knowing the dining hall so well he could walk through it with his eyes closed.

Liam makes it out of the dining hall in one piece, and a look at his watch indicates that he has fifteen minutes until he has to be at Wilson Hall for the Psych 101 lecture with Dr. Cowell. He starts walking over towards the building, nervous butterflies creeping up in his stomach.

Psych 101 had been easy for Liam, but he had Professor Flack—a very pleasant woman who taught well and had a soft spot for Liam.

Dr. Cowell, on the other hand was a different story. Liam had had him for some of his upper level courses. And while he was a brilliant, brilliant man, he was not the nicest man (“A _fucking_ dick,” Niall had so kindly called him after his final exam). Students would come to the psychology department a nervous wreck and leave in tears after meetings and appointments with him.

It wasn’t that he was mean, per-se; he was just ”a sarcastic jerkoff”.

Again, _Niall’s_ words.

Not to mention that almost all of his students fail his Psych 101 class.

When Liam had applied for the Undergraduate Teaching Assistant position, he had requested to work with Professor Flack, because she had recommended the position to him, they got along very well, and the expectations, though high, were manageable.

But when the e-mail came that he had been placed with Dr. Cowell, Liam was concerned—because it wasn’t that Dr. Cowell didn’t like Liam, Liam was just afraid that the expectations of him would be so high that he would burn out.

And if there is one thing that could not happen to Liam this semester, it’s to burn out.

He arrives to the lecture hall just a few minutes before the class is supposed to begin. He knows Dr. Cowell isn’t going to be there, because he never arrives early, but exactly on time, which always irritated Liam to no end.

The lecture hall is slowly filling with students—some come in dressed like they had just gotten out of bed, others file in well dressed and having been up since an eight o’clock class, and others walk in with paint stained shirts and wet heads.

Liam chuckles to himself at the sight of this and sits down at the smaller desk next to the podium. He sets his bag down on the ground and pulls out his laptop. Opening it just in time as Dr. Cowell walks in and goes right up to the podium, setting up his microphone and speakers so the large lecture can hear him.

The class is still chattering away, and Liam just sits there, waiting for Dr. Cowell to do, or say something. After a few moments, he taps the microphone purposely hard and it makes the speakers shriek unpleasantly. The students then take notice of his presence and settle down, and Dr. Cowell speaks.

“I mean, you all could continue with your nonsense, but then you wouldn’t get to know me, my TA, or any of the materials you will need for the final exam, which is 50% of your grade.”

Liam’s spine chills at his words, and the looks of confusion on the students’ faces are now that of horror. It is dead silent in the room and Dr. Cowell smiles at the room.

“That’s what I thought. My name is Dr. Simon Cowell, and I will be your professor for the semester. You may not, under any circumstances, call me ‘Doc, Cows, Cow-Cow, Dr. Simon, Simes, Simmy, or Simon.’ It is Dr. Cowell to _all of you_.”

Some of the students laugh and giggle at the names Dr. Cowell lists off, and Liam just sits back in his chair and waits for Dr. Cowell to mention something about it.

However, he ignores it and turns to Liam and points to him, “This is our Teaching Assistant, Mr. Liam Payne. Brilliant mind, a bit scrawny, but nice nonetheless. If you have any questions, you can direct them to him, for if you try to e-mail or contact me, I will just ignore you. On top of being available to you throughout the semester via e-mail, he will also hold a one-hour workshop once a week to review any material we have covered in class. The schedule for that will be put up within the next week.”

Then Dr. Cowell turns to him again and gives him a look, “Is there anything you would like to say, Liam?”

Liam looks from Dr. Cowell to the rest of the students in the lecture, and he swallows thickly, because they are all looking at him, expecting him to say something smart. Or something witty. Or something funny. He has to get the students to like him in order for them to come to his workshops, so he has to make a good—no, a _great_ —first impression.

He doesn’t.

He doesn’t, because before he has a chance to say anything, a student in the back row raises his hand, and Dr. Cowell points at him,

“Question? In the back?”

“Yeah.” The voice pipes up. Liam sees the boy who raised his hand—he is short, with light wispy hair and a toothy smile. He has an amused look in his eyes and Liam knows it only means trouble. “Is Mr. Payne available _after_ hours?”

There are a few giggles across the hall, and Dr. Cowell narrows his eyes, “Well yes, via e-mail—“

“Well,” the boy continues in a deep voice, and Liam can really feel his cheeks burning, because he lives with Niall—he _knows_ where this is going, “I mean, I might be in my dorm room, alone, and in need of some _assistance_ , ifff you know what I mean.”

The class erupts then, but Dr. Cowell is playing dumb, which would be funny for Liam, if he weren’t the target.

Dr. Cowell is having fun though, Liam can tell, but he can also tell that with fun comes punishment. And Liam is just glad he is not any of the students in the class because they have _no idea_ what Dr. Cowell is capable of. Joking around is one thing, but this kid is acting like Dr. Cowell is stupid, and Dr. Cowell does not have any of that.

“I’m not so sure, do you mind explaining?”

The class is now roaring in laughter, and the boy in the back just leans back in his chair, his light hair falling over his face and his arms crossed over his body, “Well, I obviously mean sex.”

Liam is now beat red in the face and does nothing else with his hands besides hide his face in them. What is worse is that the entire class is watching him be completely mortified.

Dr. Cowell is not phased however, and chuckles, “What’s your name, son?”

The boy sits up tall and proud, “Louis Tomlinson.”

“Ah, Mr. Tomlinson.” Dr. Cowell tuts. “Well class, you can all thank Mr. Tomlinson for the additional six page literature review on the over-diagnosis of ADHD that will be due by the next class, on _top_ of the other assignments that are on your syllabus.”

The class now groans and several students are now turning to glare at him. Liam then takes the opportunity to notice the two boys sitting on either side of Louis.

There is one boy with wild curly brown hair and green eyes. Liam thinks he is cute enough, as he’s smiling widely at Louis like he is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and his dimples are so prominent Liam could probably draw them perfectly even though he was sitting so far away from him.

The boy on the other side of Louis doesn’t look as pleased. He is wearing a t-shirt, which reveals a mass of tattoos on his forearms. He has black hair with dark brown eyes. It’s the eyes that really catch Liam’s attention. His body language says one thing but his eyes tell a completely different story, and Liam wants to know what it is. But that’s just it. Liam _doesn’t_ know what it is, and he has no way of finding out. His body posture says he is relaxed yet bored. His eyes don’t look sad or angry, but interested? Intrigued? And not in his friend next to him. But in _Liam_.

It catches Liam off guard, but before he has time to react, Dr. Cowell is shoving a stack of thick packets at him,

“Pass out the syllabus to the students,” he says into the microphone, “And try not to make the students squirm as you do so, hmm?”

The student’s laugh at this and Liam quickly takes the stack away from him, giving each student in the front row enough to pass back to the other students behind them.

“Such a shame,” Dr. Cowell begins when Liam returns to his seat, “That all of you have an extra assignment before you even see what the other assignments are! Tsk, tsk. Well this is already looking to be a promising year, especially if Mr. Tomlinson has anything to say about it.”

Liam sees Louis look down at Dr. Cowell and wave seductively, and the two boys beside him laugh though the one with the dark hair doesn’t keep his eyes off of Liam.

And Liam can feel his eyes trained on him for the rest of the lecture.

The rest of the lecture goes on as any normal first class goes—the syllabus is discussed, questions are asked and answered, and then the discussion lecture begins.

Liam loves discussion lecture, probably because he actually likes his major. Psychology is fun, and it’s interesting to him. Some people think it’s stupid, but Liam loves knowing how the mind works, and why people do and say things that they do.

But even with all of the classes he took and all of the studying he has done, he has no freaking idea why this guy is still staring at him, even as the class is ending and Dr. Cowell is giving them reminders.

“So remember, the six page literature review as well as the Big-Five questionnaire are due by Thursday of this week. Any questions?” When the response is silence he nods, “Alright. Have a good day, everyone.”

The class then begins to pack up and head out. Liam does the same but Dr. Cowell stops him, “Liam, a word?”

Liam stands and walks to his podium and Dr. Cowell sets his microphone down, “I assume you know the rules of being a UTA, correct?”

He nods, “Of course.”

“Then you also know that any relationship outside of professional with the students is prohibited. I don’t care about your personal life, but make sure you keep it out of the classroom, and preferably, not with any of my students.” He looks him up and down, “Is that clear?”

“Absolutely, Dr. Cowell.” Liam responds automatically.

“Good, because I would hate to have you fired for something as trivial as what happened today at the beginning of the lecture.”

Liam stiffens, and his face turns red again, “I can assure you, I don’t even know who that kid is. I’ve never spoken a word to him.”

Dr. Cowell picks up his briefcase and nods, “Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

Liam nods in agreement and waves a quick good-bye before gathering the rest of his stuff and rushing out of the lecture hall and out of the building out into the warm September air.

And, as luck would have it, there are four students waiting for him.

Three of them being Louis and his two friends.

Liam, ever the professional, looks past Louis and over to a brown-haired girl who looks nervous but eager. Liam remembers her from class, as she answered a lot of questions Dr. Cowell had asked the class.

“Hello,” He says politely to her, “Eleanor, right? I remember you from class.”

She smiles softly at him and nods, “Yeah. I just had a question about the literature review…”

Liam lets her ask the question and is happy to find that she already has a basic understanding of the assignment. He reminds her that his e-mail is in the syllabus if she has any questions and when she leaves, he hears Louis clear his throat,

“Finally, I thought she would _never_ leave.” He gasps, and walks over to him and holds out his hand, “My name is Louis Tomlinson, and you have a great ass—“

Liam flushes pink and he swallows thickly, which makes Louis’ eyes sparkle.

“What he means to say,” Liam turns to the curly haired boy, who interrupted Louis, “Is hello, nice to meet you. We were really just leaving—“

“No we weren’t.” Louis protests.

Liam watches them in amusement, and his eyes strain to the other boy, who is leaning against the wall, his eyes moving from Liam to his two friends.

“Anyway, I’m Harry,” the boy with curly hair says desperately, “and the reason we were waiting like freakin’ stalkers is because Louis wanted to say hi. And now that he has, we were _just_ leaving—“

Louis just rolls his eyes and looks at Liam, “No, we weren’t. I heard you talking to that girl about the assignment. It seems like it’s really hard.”

Liam has to hold himself from rolling his eyes, because compared to all of the work he has done in his college career, a six-page literature review is not hard. But he remembers that Louis is just a freshman, maybe a sophomore, and hasn’t fully experienced college term papers.

“It’s not too bad if you follow the instructions on the syllabus,” Liam says, trying to sound professional, but really, he’s pretty sure he just sounds like a tool.

Louis looks contemplative, then he shakes his head, “No, nope, I don’t really like to read. It’ll be impossible to complete.”

“You don’t really like to do much of anything.” An unfamiliar voice comes from the dark haired boy leaning against the wall. It surprises Liam to the point where he gets goose bumps, but Louis and Harry seem unfazed.

“Zayn! M’boy, you didn’t even introduce yourself.” He looks to Liam, “He’s a bit shy. Really quiet. Just transferred here, actually. And Harry and myself took him under our wing—“

“Louis, _chill_.” Harry warns softly, glancing nervously at Zayn.

At this Louis stops and looks at Zayn, who now has his hands stuffed in his pockets but isn’t sulking. He pushes himself off the wall pulls out a pack of cigarettes, pulling one out of the box and lighting it, shrugging when Harry gives him a concerned look.

“Sooo, that assignment,” Harry says quickly, diffusing the tension and changing the subject, “I really can’t afford to fail this class. My mom would literally murder me in broad daylight and not feel bad about it—and I’m her only son!”

Liam nods and looks from Harry, to Zayn, and then to Louis, “Okay, well, if you have any questions you can e-mail me. My e-mail is in your syllabus, and I’m usually in the Psychology department on Wednesdays in the morning because that’s when I do my research prep, so if you need help you can stop there if you’d like.”

Harry nods and Louis raises his brows, “Well thanks. Harry is a little bit of an over achieving dick, and to be honest, I don’t really care if I fail, I just really think you need to get out of that shirt and those pants—“

“Louis.” Harry warns.

“—and into my bed.”

“ _Louis_.”

Liam snorts. Louis was completely ridiculous in his opinion, and he reminded him a little bit of Niall. So while Louis was quickly turning into an annoying brat, Liam couldn’t completely dislike him.

Louis narrows his eyes at Harry and grabs Zayn’s arm, knocking the cigarette out of his fingertips, “Whatever, Harry. Zayn and I have Econ 211, so we’ll see you later.”

Louis looks at Liam then, “Bye, Liam. I _really_ hope I see you around.” He winks at Liam and smirks before he drags Zayn by the arm, but not before Zayn nods at Liam and looks at him before they round a corner and are out of sight.

Harry watches them leave and turns around, his cheeks flushed. Liam chuckles, “Louis has no shame, does he?”

Harry shakes his head, “None. I’m sorry about him. He can be a little over the top.”

“It’s alright. I think I might live with his long lost brother, so it’s no big deal.” Liam shrugs, a small smile on his lips at the thought of Niall.

Harry smiles widely, “Cool. Yeah, and I’m sorry about Zayn too. Like we said, he just transferred here, and I think he’s regretting his decision after hanging out with Lou and I for the first few days.”

Liam looks to the spot that Zayn was standing at and runs a hand over his hair, “Yeah, he’s quiet, isn’t he?”

Harry shrugs, “He opens up when you get to know him. But I’m sure you know that by now—I’m positive you’ve already analyzed half the class in that two hour lecture.”

Liam laughs at this because of course everyone immediately assumes that Psychology majors analyze everyone they meet.

…Liam normally doesn’t fall into that, but the three he’s just met are a fluke in the system.

“You’re completely wrong, and that is a terrible myth.”

Harry looks at him skeptically, “I don’t believe you.”

“Believe what you want, I’m just here to help you with your homework.”

Harry laughs and nods in defeat, “Alright, alright. Thanks for your help, I got Law in twenty minutes—but is it cool if I e-mail you with questions?”

Liam nods, “Yup. That’s what it’s there for.

Harry smiles, “Right. Sweet. Alright, see you around!”

Liam waves good-bye and shakes his head at the boys he had just encountered.

Harry was nice enough, he concluded. He was a smart kid who seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. And he would have no problem helping him out.

Louis was comical, but Liam knew that he would not pass the class with the attitude and the flirting. He seemed harmless enough, but Liam knew that what was harmless to him might not be to someone else (like, say, Dr. Cowell), so he knew he would have to watch out for that.

And Zayn…he was still so unreadable that Liam thought if he kept thinking about him, his brain would fry. Of course, there were 50 other students he had to be thinking about as well, but all he could picture in his mind was the dark haired boy named Zayn who barely spoke to him but wouldn’t stop _looking_ at him.


	2. The One With Rules And Morals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all so much for all of the support! I hope you like this chapter! :) Also huge thanks to my beta Anna for being the bomb dot com. 
> 
> Please follow my tumblr for updates and other TA shenanigans :) www.writingthepostcard.tumblr.com :)))

“Liam Payne! Come in, sweetheart. I’m just doing some data analysis. I’ll be finished in a minute.”

Liam smiles at Professor Flack, who is sitting at her desk rapidly typing on her laptop. Liam takes a seat at the table near her office window and pulls out his laptop, bringing up the notes he took during Dr. Cowell’s class. He checks his watch and is glad to see that talking to the students after class didn’t make him late to his meeting with her.

Professor Flack was not only his favorite professor, but also his UTA mentor and his research prep advisor. Over his years at school, they became so close that Liam saw her as almost family. They’d been through a lot in the past—her divorce from Dr. Murs being final, and his coming out to his friends at school and to his parents, which was made a lot easier with her support and advice.

“Alright Liam,” she says, closing her laptop, kicking off her heels and folding her feet under her legs, sitting Indian style, “Tell me, how was Cowell’s class?”

Liam sits back in the chair and smiles, “What do you want to know about first? The students or how Dr. Cowell decided to scare the students this semester?”

Professor Flack laughs, “Definitely the second. Did he tell them the final was 50% of their grade before or after the syllabus was handed out?”

Liam gives her a look, “What do _you_ think?”

She shakes her head in response, “That man will never change.”

“And then another student named Louis hit on me in front of the entire class and Dr. Cowell gave the class a six page literature review as punishment.” Liam adds.

Professor Flack rolls her eyes, “He is so dramatic,” she pauses and her eyes light up, “I’m sorry, did I mishear? A student _hit on you_?”

Liam feels his heart drop and literally smacks himself in the forehead. As much as he loved Professor Flack, he did not love her passion for gossip.

“What did he say? Who is he? Oh, I’m sure Dr. Cowell had a _field day_ with that one.”

Liam shrugged, “His name is Louis, he’s a sophomore, I think. Very flirtatious, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Professor Flack gives him a look, “Is it possible that he could potentially be a boyf—“

“No.” Liam says instantly, his cheeks becoming red again. “No way. It’s against the rules to date students, number one. And number two, he…isn’t my type.” His thoughts go to Zayn again but he shakes them away.

“You have very high expectations, but, you’re right—rules are rules.” She takes a sip of her coffee and narrows her eyes slightly, “But you should at least date around, Liam. You’re only young once, and now is the time to get out there!”

Liam contemplates this and looks into Professor Flack’s wide eyes. She always has a way of making Liam question all of his life decisions—maybe it’s because he has a lot of respect for her and doesn’t want her to think less of him.

Or maybe it’s because while she may be nice, her eyes can be freakin’ intimidating.

“Yeah, well, I want to focus on school right now. And the research that we are doing,” He says in a sing-song tone in the hopes that it will direct her to change the subject.

She rolls her eyes and pushes her blonde bangs out of her eyes, “Alright, alright, I see where you are going with this. But I’m just saying, if you want, I could totally set you up with someone in the research department…”

Liam tries hard to stifle his groan, if there is another thing Professor Flack loves, its matchmaking.

Just because she loves it, though, doesn’t mean she is good at it.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Liam says patiently, “I don’t want what happened to Josh to happen to me—“

Professor Flack sighs, “Listen, Cher is actually a really nice girl—“

“She made Josh _cry_ —!“

“It wasn’t intentional!” She cries, throwing her arms in the air, “It’s not my fault that she chose a presentation topic that he was…sensitive to!”

Liam narrowed his eyes at her, “She chose the same one he did—and he cried _then_ too!”

Professor Flack waved her hand at him, “Oh what-ever. I’m telling you Liam, I know a good pair when I see it.”

Liam just smiles at her and hands her his laptop with the notes from Dr. Cowell’s class, “Yeah, yeah. I’m sure. Here’s the notes from today’s class.”

Professor Flack clears her throat and reaches for her glasses before looking over the notes and scrolling through them.

“These look good, Liam. As I’m sure you know, as a condition for the UTA Program, you are required to write a 20-page paper on your experience. Then, you will have to use this class as part of your research.” She look at him over her glasses, “Hopefully you at least have an idea of what you want your research to be?”

Liam nods, having taken the past break to plan it all out. One could say he was a little bit excited, “Yeah. I want to look at underclassmen student perspectives of college life and Greek life, but go even further and compare on-campus students to commuters and transfer students.”

He finishes off kind of weak, afraid of her reaction. While Professor Flack was fun and charismatic, she was also very serious about research, especially research with her students.

She’s contemplating his idea when a smile spreads across her face. Liam winces because he knows that smile, and he knows that with that look on her face, he will be sitting there for a while.

“Well Liam,” She says, an excited and mysterious glint in her eyes, “This is a fantastic idea, but you know what would make it even _better_ …”

 

~*~

 

It’s a few hours after Liam gets back from the library that Niall walks in, cowboy hat in hand, face and body smeared in paint, hair wet, and a slight cut on his cheek.

Liam winces when Niall sits next to him on the couch and groans in pain.

“Bad day?” Liam asks playfully, and Niall glares at him.

“It was going so well, but I forgot that people actually _eat_ lunch when they are in the dining hall.”

“Just a minor detail.” Liam says with a shrug.

“Apparently, paint mixed with open food and foam getting in the drinks didn’t sit well with the freshman. And the nurses are pissed off.”

Liam nods and looks at him, “What’s with the cut cheek and pain in your back?”

“I got trampled towards the end when people were racing out of the dining hall. I fell and none of my brothers would help me. They were too concerned about getting in trouble or whatever.”

“Who would have thought you boys actually have a conscience?” Liam muses.

Niall hits Liam over the head with his cowboy hat, “Hey, asshole, just because I’m in a fraternity doesn’t mean I don’t _care_. I just wanted to leave a legacy at this school. Ed, our president last year, had the best Freshman Tuesday ever.”

“I think the stripper pole was a bit much—“

“It was _legendary_ ,” Niall says, cutting him off. “Anyway, he left a legacy—a mark. As president, I wanted to do that. It was going so well. Until, well….”

“I heard a full can of paint dropped on a freshman girl’s _head_?”

“It was an _accident_!” Niall groans with his head in his hands. “It just slipped from Aiden’s fingers!”

Liam rubbed his friends’ back sympathetically before standing up and heading to the kitchen, “Well at least you had access to most of your targets—smart thinking on your part to get them when they all have lunch.”

Niall perked up, a hesitant smile on his lips, “Well yeah. You know freshman never get to make their schedules. And admissions like to have them all eat lunch at the same time. Something about seeing familiar faces.” He dismisses the comment off with a wave of his hand.

“Yeah, and here I thought that you had no idea what the hell you were doing.”

A pillow is thrown at Liam’s head and Niall laughs, “I know a thing or two, Payne.” A pause after the laughter dies down, “So what are you plans for the rest of the night?”

Liam rolls his shoulders and sighs, “Nothing special. Check my e-mail for any messages from Cowell’s class and probably head to bed. I have to be in the Psych department early tomorrow for research prep.”

Niall nods and leans back into the couch, “You are such a bore, Liam Payne.”

Liam flips him off and gets off the couch, “That’s probably why you love me so much. Haven’t you ever heard of opposites attract?”

Niall rolls his eyes and flicks on the T.V. ignoring his comment and waving him off, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you’re the apple of my eye and all of that. Go ahead and be a nerd. If you need me I’ll be out here watching horrible television while trying to forget today even existed.”

Liam laughs and heads to his room and pulls his laptop out of his bag. He opens it and pulls up his e-mail where he has two messages waiting for him.

The first is from Eleanor and he smiles as he responds to her question, really enjoying her enthusiasm for a class, even if it were a required course to graduate regardless of her major.

The second e-mail is from Harry.

 **From:** h.styles@modesman.edu

 **Subject:** …This is okay right?

_Hi Liam,_

_Wanted to make sure this was, like, okay? Like I said—can’t fail this class. Mom will have my privates chopped if you know what I mean._

_So, this is okay, right? Don’t want you to think I’m weird or annoying. I just can’t fail. Louis isn’t much of a help and Zayn usually does his work on his own so this is really a last resort._

_So…erm…help?_

_Thanks._

Liam shakes his head fondly at the email before replying, half-surprised that Harry had e-mailed him and half amused by his choice of words,

 **From:** l.payne@modesman.edu

 **Send to:** h.styles@modesman.edu

 **Subject:** Re: …This is okay right?

_Hi Harry—_

_I know what it’s like to be worried about a class. But you really have nothing to be concerned about._

_Like I said earlier, I have office hours tomorrow morning. But if you can’t make it then, I spoke with my advisor this afternoon and there is no set day for workshops just yet. But I can answer questions here if that’s easier for you._

_Good luck._

_-Liam_

_PS. Yes, this is perfectly fine._

Liam sends it off and closes his laptop. He shoves it onto the table next to his bed and goes to take a shower. For the first day of school, he was exhausted. He knew this year was going to be a challenge, but he had no idea how much of a toll all of the responsibilities he had would take on him.

For Liam, being an undergraduate teaching assistant was already kicking his ass. And with all of the Niall’s fraternity shenanigans, crazy professors and mysterious boys with dark hair on top of that, Liam wasn’t sure if he was going to make it out alive.

 

~*~

 

Liam wakes up to the sound of a crash and someone stumbling into the apartment. It was Wednesday, which meant he had to be up early anyway for his office hours, and since it was the first day back at school the day before, Liam knew that Niall probably went out to get trashed after he had went to bed.

He gets out of bed and walks out into the living room, where Niall is laid face down on their floor, with a miniature Irish flag in between his butt cheeks.

His _bare_ butt cheeks.

“’Mornin’ Li.” He greets, voice muffled since his mouth is pressed against the wood floor.

Liam crosses his arms and stares at him, “What in the world—?“

Niall only raises his hand, silencing him, “You don’t want to know.”

Liam hums in understanding, “Sigma girls?”

“Sigma girls.” Niall confirms. He squirms on the floor and sighs, “I’m naked, aren’t I?”

Liam nods, “Bare cheeks and all, buddy.”

“I hate everyone.”

Liam laughs at him and turns to go back to his room and start getting ready for his day. By the time he is finished, Niall is already out in the kitchen making coffee. Liam has no idea how he does it, but as drunk as Niall can get the night before, the next morning he is barely hungover and is always ready to go.

“Feeling better?” Liam asks.

“You bet. I’m making coffee for the road. Got that fingerprinting class at 9:30,” He points to the pot, “Want some?”

He nods and Niall pours him a cup. He takes a sip and Liam doesn’t realize he’s moaned until Niall points it out,

“Jesus Liam, at least take it out to dinner first.”

Liam rolls his eyes and flips him off, which results in Niall laughing at him. “You make damn good coffee, take it as a compliment.”

“More of an invitation, it sounds like.” He takes a sip, “So what are your plans for the day?”

“Pretty easy today—just office hours, and then a class, and then I’m back here because last night I was tired and I just want to sleep forever, honestly.”

Niall leans his hip up against the counter, looking at him, “Rough first day with Cowell, huh?”

“It wasn’t even that bad,” Liam starts, “It’s just a lot to take in at once. Fifty kids in that UTA class, and one of them tried hitting on me in front of the entire class—“

Niall swallows his coffee and blinks at Liam with wide eyes, “Are you serious?”

Liam nods, “Yeah, Cowell had a field day with him. Gave them all an extra assignment for being an idiot.”

“Figures,” Niall scoffs, “So did you at least get the kids number?”

Liam shakes his head forcefully, “No. It’s against the rules for UTA’s to date students ”

Niall shrugs, clearly not amused by the news, “So? Liam, this is the perfect opportunity—“

“For what?”

“For you to get some! Listen, you haven’t dated in a while, and you are so busy this semester. It’s our senior year, man! You of all people deserve to have some fun. Why not in the form of a desperate student trying to get an A in the class by sleeping with the assistant teacher? It’s perfect!”

Liam sighs disapprovingly, “It’s wrong.”

“How is having sex _wrong_?” Niall asks exasperatedly, “Think about it—you sleep with him, or her, and you get it in. You get it out. Give the grade. And at the end of the semester you never have to see them again. This school is big enough that you don’t run into the same person twice unless it’s on purpose.”

“Let me rephrase,” Liam declares, “It is _morally_ wrong to sleep with one of my students.”

Niall blinks innocently at him, “What are morals?”

Liam shoves his shoulder and picks up his bag to put it over his shoulder, “Morals, those things that make you a decent human being. If you really want to get specific, Lawrence Kohlberg had three types of—“

Niall plugs his ears with his pointer fingers and squints his eyes shut, “Lalalalala, I can’t hear you over how much you _suck_.”

“You really are a child. Why are we best friends again?”

Niall grins, “Didn’t you say something about opposites attracting…?”

“I am seriously regretting ever telling you that.”

“No regrets, just love, Liam Payne.”

“I thought we were done with the Katy Perry obsession, Niall.”

Niall clutches his heart dramatically with one hand while he slings his bag over his shoulder with the other, “You do not just become done with a Katy Perry obsession, Liam.”

“You said that about Taylor Swift too, you know. And what happened to her?” He asks intentionally.

Niall shudders at the mention and follows Liam out of the apartment; “She had _camel-toe,_ Liam. And that. No. Just, _no_.”

 

~*~

 

Liam loves working in the Psychology department because it gives him time to get work done as well as think.

Being a psychology major, he’s learned that looking at problems from every angle is the best way to make a logical and correct decision.

And not that Zayn was a problem, Liam just really couldn’t stop thinking about him for the hour he’s been in the office, giving himself time to think.

Liam is not one to ask people about their business, but he is dying to know Zayn’s story. Liam is one to let people talk about themselves, because normally they offer up information to him without him even asking for it. But he already can tell that if he wants to know anything about Zayn, he will have to get the information himself.

The worst part is, every time Liam goes further into thinking about Zayn, he has to stop himself, because he doesn’t want to get far in too deep without even having a real conversation with him.

And he knows he shouldn’t even be _thinking_ about a student in his UTA class this much because he’s pretty sure Dr. Cowell has a video camera hidden somewhere in his brain and is probably sitting back in his chair with a bag of popcorn watching him have this dilemma. And if he’s watching, then he knows. And Dr. Cowell knowing things is never, _ever_ a good thing.

Liam clears his throat (as if that’ll stop his brain from thinking) and looks back to the assignment he was working on. He manages to get a little bit more done before there is a knock on the office door.

“Hey. Liam, right?”

Liam turns around, and of fucking course, Zayn is standing in the door frame, giving him a small smile.

Liam, ever the cool one, swallows thickly and smiles back, “Yeah, hey, how’s it going? You alright?” He immediately wants to smack himself because _really_? Two questions in one breath? Good one, Payne.

Zayn doesn’t notice this however, and sits down in the empty chair next to Liam. He realizes that Zayn is different today—happier, maybe. Less standoffish than yesterday. Liam decides that he likes this and settles back in his chair.

“Yeah, I’m fine. So, um, I came here because I remembered you said that you would be here. And I’m not a creepy guy like Louis or anything, but I finished that paper and I thought you could look it over?”

Liam notices that he is nervous, because the stapled literature review he has in his hands is being rolled and un-rolled. A nervous tick. Liam nods and holds his hand out, “Sure, I can read it now, if you’d like.”

Zayn nods and hands it to him without meeting his eye, and Liam grabs his glasses before he starts reading.

Liam has to admit, after reading the first few paragraphs, Zayn knows what he is talking about. The formatting of his paper is practically spot on, and give or take a few grammatical errors, Liam sees no reason why Zayn shouldn’t get a good grade on his paper.

He hands it back to him with a smile, “Looks good to me. You’re a fast learner if this is your first psychology class.”

Zayn grins and his smile is almost blinding to Liam, but in a good way, “Yeah, it is. I just picked it up, I guess. It’s not too hard once you read the syllabus, like you said.”

“That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” Liam jokes, and Zayn nods.

“Right, um, so, it was good, then?”

Liam nods and Zayn relaxes his shoulders a bit, “Cool. So is that it?”

“Unless you have any other questions,” Liam says. _Or unless you want to sit here so I can just stare at you because I have no problem with that at all._

Liam feels himself blush at the thought and he wants to smack himself.

Zayn studies him before crossing his arms, “Yeah, I do. Is Cowell going to hold what happened in class yesterday over Louis’ head for the rest of the semester?”

Liam thinks about this and makes a conclusion, “Probably, why?”

Zayn grins, “No reason. I just think it’s awesome.”

Liam hums, “Yeah. Just be careful. Cowell believes the whole ‘you are who you are friends with’ stuff. So he’ll—“

“—probably think I’m a douchebag like Louis.” Zayn finishes and Liam shrugs, “No big deal. People already think that of me.”

Liam plays with his tie, looking at him, “I don’t.” He says quietly.

Their eyes meet and Zayn smirks, standing up, “You’re a fool if you think that, Liam Payne.”

And then he is gone.

 

~*~

 

At noon, Liam leaves the Psychology department and heads off to the dining hall to meet up with Niall and some of his brothers from his fraternity. One thing he has always loved about Niall is that he is friends with everyone, and even if two people who are not in the same circles all hang out with Niall at the same time, Niall never makes it awkward for anyone.

Once Liam gets to the dining hall, he immediately spots Niall’s table near the pizza station. Niall catches his eye and waves him over, pointing to a chair across from him.

“Hey, Liam!” Niall greets before stuffing two pieces of pizza into his mouth at the same time.

“Hey,” Liam says, placing his bag on the ground and waving to some of the other brothers who also said their greeting.

Liam quickly retrieves his food (a sandwich and stir fry, because Ms. Lewis always makes the best stir fry), and he sits in his seat, tuning into the conversation Niall was having with his brothers,

“Okay, so, boys—and Liam—recruitment week is right around the corner. We need to pick up the pace. Aiden, how are the potential freshman looking?”

A junior named Aiden, who is a bit taller than Liam with dark eyes, lifts his head up from his soup and swallows, “I am working on it. These freshman are hard asses, man. They want to make sure Alpha Kappa Lambda is all about brotherhood and being a gentleman and whatnot.”

Niall narrowed his eyes, “Did you tell them that we _were_?”

Aiden nods, “I did, but they didn’t believe me. Apparently, we have a reputation.”

The rest of the table groans and Liam takes a bite of his sandwich, trying to hide the smirk. Of course Alpha Kappa Lambda had a reputation—sure, they were the ‘gentlemen’ fraternity, but that didn’t mean this particular chapter abided to that expectation all of the time.

“We’re screwed, Niall,” another senior named Tom said, “If these freshman don’t pledge, we will lose our chapter—“

“Don’t you think I know that?” Niall snapped, but sighed immediately when he realized how harsh he sounded, “Sorry, Tom. Just, we need to work on getting a lot of potentials during recruitment week. Alright?”

The 20-odd something boys sitting at the long table nodded in unison, and apparently that was the signal that the meeting was adjourned, because a lot of them started to gather their things and leave the dining hall. Niall however, groaned and dragged a hand down his face. He looked to Liam pitifully,

“Tell me you have better news than what I just heard.”

Liam shrugs and takes a bite out of his stir fry, his mind immediately flashing to Zayn and their interaction earlier, “Well, actually, I wanted to talk to you about something, or someone.”

Niall’s head perk up and his eyes shine, “Really? A boy? Who?”

Liam reaches across the table, slaps Niall in the head and looks around wearily, “Shut _up_. I don’t want this broadcasted, okay? Its just…there is this kid in my UTA class, and…I don’t know.”

Niall takes his fork and stabs it into Liam’s stir-fry and takes a bite, “Wait...the kid who hit on you? What do you mean you don’t know? Do you want to hit and quit?”

Liam shakes his head, “No, not that one. A different one...one of his friends." He takes a bite of stir fry, "And _no_ , because that’s against the rules.” He reminds him.

“But you like him,” Niall concludes.

“I don’t really know him,” Liam confesses.

“Ah,” Niall says, smiling, “But you want to know him.”

When Liam doesn’t argue, Niall claps his hands together and grins, “Yes! This is perfect, Liam. You have to go for it. What’s his name?”

“His name is Zayn, and I don’t know his last name off the top of my head.”

“You mean Zayn Malik?”

Liam turns to Aiden, who is now sitting next to him, and nods, “Er, I think so? Dark hair? Smokes cigarettes?”

Aiden hums in confirmation, “Yeah, I know of him. Super quiet. Brilliant as hell, just doesn’t apply himself fully. My girlfriend, Gemma, has a brother named Harry—“

“Harry Styles?” Liam guesses and Aiden smiles,

“Yeah, him. He’s a nice kid, he’s a freshman I think. Anyway, he hangs around Zayn a lot. And that other idiot, too.”

Niall then leans towards Aiden, “Gemma, as in Gemma Styles? VP of Sigma?”

“Yeah, that’s her.”

Niall throws his hands up in the air, “Dude!”

Aiden cocks his head to the side in confusion, “Dude _what_?”

“You really are as stupid as you are pretty,” Niall says fondly, “Don’t you see!? Harry Styles is the perfect person to recruit! He’s a Sigma’s _sister_. He’s golden. He’ll take to us in a heartbeat. You know that being part of Greek life is _genetic_ right? This is perfect. Don’t you think?”

Liam shakes his head, “I don’t know, Niall. Harry is in my UTA class, and he seems more school focused than party focused.”

“Look at Aiden—he’s school focused and party focused! There is such a thing as having the best of both worlds, Liam.”

Liam just shrugs and takes another bite, “I don’t know. You might want to rethink pushing him.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Niall says, pulling out his laptop and opening up Facebook, “I’ll think about it. I think he’ll be a great addition. I’ll have to do some more research on him.”

“You are so creepy.” Liam says.

Niall waves him off, “It’s for recruitment, Liam. You don’t understand. So while I’m over here being creepy, you keep staring off into the distance and think about Zayn.”

Liam just flips him off and continues to eat his lunch, while watching Niall become immersed in the art of Facebook stalking Harry Styles.


	3. The One Where Niall Recruits And Zayn Shows Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your comments and kudos and nice things! I love writing this fic and your energy fuels my fire! I love you all. Also, much love to my beta Anna B for being the best. I love her so much.
> 
> If you want to find me on the interwebz you can do so here: www.writingthepostcard.tumblr.com.
> 
> Have a good holiday, for those of you who are celebrating! :)
> 
> Enjoy the chapter xxx

As the two boys leave the dining hall and say goodbye to Aiden, Niall is on a totally new topic, one that makes Liam more nervous than the Kappa’s recruiting Harry,

“This costume party is going to be awesome, Liam. It’s going to actually be at the Kappa house this year. Can you believe it? The administration is actually going to let us do that!”

Liam questions the administrations sanity at this point, but claps Niall on the back, “Congratulations, man.”

“Thanks,” he smiles, “You’re coming.” He states.

Liam shakes his head, his body already reacting to the anxiousness he feels, “No, no, no, I’m not.”

“Yes you are. Come on, remember, we’re going to have _fun_ this year!”

Liam winces, “Yeah, but…a costume party?”

Niall slaps his shoulder, “More the reason to go! You can look as ridiculous or as hot as you want and you actually have an excuse. You can wear a mask so no one will recognize you! Please Liam, for me? Please?”

Liam pouts because honestly, he hated when Niall resorted to begging. It made him feel like he was being the unreasonable one, when Niall had to beg. So of course, he complies.

“Fine, fine. I’ll go,” Niall squeals in delight, “But I am not helping you clean up afterwards.”

Niall smirks at him, “Please. One solo cup on the floor and you’ll have your apron on scrubbing the tiles with bleach.”

Liam doesn’t say anything because he unfortunately knows that Niall is right.

 

~*~

 

The next day is Thursday, and Liam has to get up early for class, and while he loves his research methods class, he was really anxious to get to Dr. Cowell’s class.

He tells himself he’s only anxious because he wants to know how Eleanor and Harry ended up doing on their papers, but in the back of his head it’s because he really wants to see if Zayn will say anything to him.

Because really, what kind of person says he’s a fool for thinking he’s a good person?

In Liam’s ‘professional’ opinion, he thinks Zayn is just trying to be mysterious.

And Liam wants to smack himself because it is actually working.

Luckily for Liam, when he gets to Dr. Cowell’s class, he can see almost all of the students are already in their seats, this time more attentive even though Dr. Cowell hasn’t arrived yet. He sits down at his seat next to the podium and sees Harry, Louis and Zayn.

Harry and Louis are in the middle of a conversation, and when he looks to Zayn, their eyes meet.

Liam nods at him curtly and expects some kind of recognition in return, but receives none.

Liam feels disappointed, but doesn’t have time to register the emotion because Dr. Cowell walks in then, and all attention is put on him.

“Hello class,” He begins, “If you could all pass your assignments to the front of your rows, Liam will collect them. They will be graded and your grades will be put online by next Thursday.”

Once the papers are collected, class begins. And surprisingly, class goes on without any incident like the previous class except for the occasional dig at Louis (“This is Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love,” Dr. Cowell had preached, “Unfortunately for Mr. Tomlinson, this theory does _not_ include lusting after his TA.”)

Normally, Liam would mind, but today, he doesn’t, because Zayn gives him a knowing look once Louis grins at Dr. Cowell, and Liam finds it hard not to smile.

When the class ends, Liam puts all of the papers he received into a pile and Dr. Cowell nods at him, “I need those papers edited by Tuesday so I can give a final grade. Can you manage that?”

Liam nods and Dr. Cowell claps him on the back, “Excellent. Good work, I understand some of the students have been e-mailing you?”

“Yeah, I’ve helped a few students out already.”

He nods, “Good. One more thing—I spoke to Professor Flack, and she mentioned that Thursday evenings around six would be good for your one-hour workshops. Is that alright?”

Liam considers this quickly and nods, figuring if he has something to do he can just work his schedule around that. “That’ll be fine. In this lecture hall?”

“Preferably.”

Liam nods again, “Works for me.”

“That’s great. Keep up the good work. And have a good weekend.”

With that, Dr. Cowell leaves, and Liam continues to pack up his stuff and the papers. Once finished, he looks up and Louis and Harry are walking past his desk,

“See you, Liam!” Harry waves with a grin and leaves the classroom, Louis following close behind.

“ _Bye Liam_ ,” He blows Liam a kiss and leaves, his cackle echoing through the halls.

Liam sees Zayn head out in the same direction that the other two went. Liam smiles softly, raising his hand to wave at him, but Zayn just rushes past him, not even acknowledging he was there.

Liam is shocked, and he feels a tug at his heart and heat rush to his cheeks in embarrassment. But he immediately shakes his head and rids any type of physical reaction. Because why would he even be feeling this way? He should be getting in _trouble_ for feeling anything like this. This is a student. He is a UTA. There is no reason he should be getting any kind of worked up over this. It’s stupid, is what it is.

And that’s what carries Liam from Dr. Cowell’s class to his research prep, because if there is one thing he’s good at, it’s using his academics to help him forget things and make him not feel things for boys he shouldn’t be feeling anything for.

 

~*~

 

Liam gets home from the library around midnight that night, but he still isn’t the least surprised to find Niall sitting on the floor in the living room, surrounded by law textbooks, a pen in between his lips, a highlighter stuck behind his ear, and his laptop perched on his lap.

“Hi Niall.” Liam says when he walks into the living room.

Niall waves at him distractedly with one hand while typing on his laptop with another. He pulls a book up that’s lying open on his left side, groans in frustration and presses what Liam presumes is the ‘delete’ button repeatedly.

“Have a paper due?” Liam asks in amusement.

Niall peers at him over the laptop with narrowed eyes, “Not for another two weeks, but, you know once I get started I can’t really stop.”

Liam nods and drops his backpack onto the ground and joins Niall on the floor of the living room, putting one of the books on the couch behind him.

Liam has to give Niall credit, because contrary to what people think, Niall is a partier, but he is _not_ stupid. He’s probably one of the top students in the Law department, and, if Niall applied for the UTA position like Liam did, he would probably be sitting in on more than one class. Thing is, no one besides Liam knew this about Niall.

Liam understands why, though. He gets its because he has a reputation to maintain, and while being smart is a good thing, its best kept under the radar. In no way does Niall hide his intelligence, but he doesn’t broadcast it, either. Liam doesn’t necessarily agree with that, but he lets Niall get away with it.

“I can hear the wheels turning, Li,” Niall says suddenly, “What’s on your mind?”

Liam cocks his head to the side, “As the psych major, shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

Niall shrugs, “I guess, but just because you’re a psych major doesn’t mean you have to do all of the listening.” A pause, “So, let’s talk.”

Niall shuts his laptop and turns to face him, and Liam tucks his feel under his legs,

“About what?”

Niall gives him a pointed look, “Well, I know yesterday we didn’t really finish our discussion about one Mr. Zayn with whom you have a forbidden crush on.”

Liam’s cheeks flush red but he shakes his head, hoping Niall doesn’t catch the coloring of his cheeks, “I do _not_ have a crush on him. I just…I just think he’s an interesting guy, is all. He’s so smart, Niall. But he barely talks to anyone. He acts as if you have to be allowed access to talk to him. It’s…it’s—“

Niall’s eyes light up, “It’s turning you on?” He asks hopefully.

Liam gives him an annoyed look, “It’s hard to keep up with. I’ve only known him less than a week, right? And he’s already had one pleasant conversation with me, and then blew off the next one I tried having with him today after class.”

Niall smiles, “So you _have_ talked to him?”

“Yeah. For a little bit in the office when he came to have me review his paper.”

Niall claps his hands together and flashes him a toothy grin, “Well then you already have your foot in the door, at least! I’m finding it hard to see the issue still.”

“Well, for one, he blew me off today.”

Niall dismisses the comment with a wave of his hand, “He might have been busy or in a rush. Next.”

Liam scratches his head, “He’s really quiet and seems to hate the world.”

Niall just stares at him, “Seriously? _You’re_ the psych major Liam. That has troubled-past-and-tortured-soul written all over it. Next.”

“He told me I was a fool for not thinking he’s a douche bag.”

Niall’s eyes widen, “ _What_?”

Liam then relays what happened during his office hours and Niall tuts at him, “He’s trying to feel you out. See if he can reel you in by being mysterious and sexy.”

Liam shrugs, “It’s just confusing.”

“So is there anything else?”

“Well, there is the big one—he’s one of my students! It’s against the rules—“

“Liam, buddy, pal, amigo. You have to let loose. At least a little bit. There is no harm in talking to a guy you think is cool and have a connection with. Just because you want to jump his bones—“

“I _don’t_ want to do that!”

“—doesn’t mean you have to avoid him at all costs. He is your student, you’re right. Make the most of the situation and talk to him!”

“I can’t talk to him if he walks away from me when I try having a conversation with him.” Liam reminds him.

Niall hums, “Well then you are just going to have to get him to stay put.”

“It’s harder than it looks.”

Niall then reaches over and wraps an arm around his shoulders, pulling him in for a sideways hug, “You know you’re my best friend, right?”

Liam nods slowly and Niall pulls him closer, “And you know I wouldn’t push you to do something if I didn’t think you could, right?”

The other boy looks at Niall and lets his head fall on his shoulder, and when Niall talks he can feel his breath on his cheek,

“I think you can do this. You are so studious, and I admire that about you. But sometimes you have to let go, Li. You have to take a chance on something you want. You can deny it for the rest of your life, but I know you have some type of interest in this Zayn guy. And I don’t know him, but I know you. And you’re not an idiot. You know the rules, but you also know that you have to talk to him for the purposes of the class. So just go with it, Liam. Stop thinking and just _do_.”

Liam blinks up at Niall in awe and he smiles at him,

“Do you know what I mean?”

“Yeah,” Liam nods slowly, “I just think now it really sunk in.”

Niall grins proudly, “I have that effect on people.”

Liam lifts his head from Niall’s shoulder, “And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think you’re right.”

“When am I wrong, Liam Payne?”

“Almost all of the time.”

“Not fair,” Niall says, “I wasn’t wrong about Michael Buble—his voice is as pure and silky as ever.”

Liam hits him over the head but grins at him, “So you’re right about _one_ thing,” his grin falters and his eyes grow serious, "I’m just afraid that once I start I won’t be able to stop, Niall. I’m already thinking about him enough—I just don’t want to jeopardize anything because of a _boy,_ you know?”

“Yeah, I do,” He pauses, “But you never know, it might be worth it.”

Liam is stunned silent long enough for Niall to ruffle his hair and continue working on his paper, and in that time Liam can’t find it in him to disagree.

 

~*~

 

The weekend comes and goes so fast Liam doesn’t even see it go by. It is spent mostly with Niall and going to the library once to finish some assignments and start editing the literature reviews from Dr. Cowell’s class.

As much as he doesn’t want to, he immediately searches for Zayn’s, and even though he’s read it already, he extensively goes through it again, and marks it up where needed. All too soon the paper is edited and he has to put it in the finished pile because really, if anyone saw him they might think he was a little bit crazy.

He gets to Harry’s paper next, and like Zayn’s, it’s written relatively well save for a few grammatical errors and a typo in the heading.

Liam groans when he gets to Louis’ paper (which just has a title page reading, _‘No.’_ ) and makes notes for Dr. Cowell and then sets it to the side.

Other than that, Liam spends a lot of time hanging around the apartment. He likes weekends like this because it’s really the only time he gets true bro time with Niall. And sure, brothers from his fraternity walk in and out a few times, but other than that Niall stays by Liam’s side, either watching the Batman collection or looking up funny videos on YouTube.

Liam loves it, but then it all ends too soon, and Monday rolls around. Luckily for Liam, he doesn’t have anything except a class at noon and then another meeting at three, so he gets to sleep in.

He doesn’t realize how exhausted he is, and when he wakes up at eleven, he almost has a heart attack, and he rushes to eat and get ready for class in enough time so that he doesn’t end up being late. As he’s running out, he catches sight of a sheet of paper titled ‘Recruitment’ completely scribbled with Niall’s handwriting. He swears he sees the name ‘Harry Styles’ circled in red marker, and he curses Niall as he slams the door shut behind him.

Luckily, his class is taught by Professor Flack, so when he walks into class a few minutes late, she just tuts at him playfully but points him out,

“And class, let’s all welcome Liam back from what I am sure was a wild weekend of watching Iron Man and reruns of SNL.”

Liam blushes but smiles widely at her, “You can poke fun all you want—but I’ll have you know it was Batman, not Iron Man.”

She just shrugs and rolls her eyes, “Both are equally unsurprising. Now Liam, since you walked in late, you are my target—would you mind telling the class your opinion on Anorexia Nervosa being linked with Asperger’s Syndrome?”

The class goes on from there and turns into a full-on debate, and pretty soon the hour and a half is over, and Professor Flack is dismissing the class.

“Liam, a word?”

Her tone is normal, but Liam is still nervous. Sure, he has a great relationship with his professors—but just because he can joke around with them doesn’t mean he takes them for granted, or that he loses respect for them, because that’s not the case at all. He doesn’t expect special treatment from his professors and always goes above and beyond in his assignments to make sure that his professors don’t think he is taking advantage either—that he can skip out on doing all parts of an assignment. Liam isn’t that kind of guy.

Liam makes his way over to her podium, and she puts her materials into her messenger bag before she looks at him,

“Have you spoken to Dr. Cowell?”

Liam shakes his head, “Not since Thursday. Why?”

“He mentioned that some of the students have been e-mailing you.” She states.

Liam looks at her expectantly, “Yes? I mean, they have, yes, is…that a problem?”

She shakes her head seriously, “No, not at all. But I was curious if that one boy has e-mailed you?”

Liam’s mind goes to Zayn immediately and his stomach flips over, but he gives her a confused blink of the eyes, “Who--?”

“The one who flirted with you in class? Louis, maybe? Dr. Cowell is very concerned about him interfering with your UTA responsibilities. I tried to assure him that he wouldn’t and that you showed _no_ interest, and I just wanted to make sure I talked to you first before he cornered you.”

Liam heaved a sigh of relief, and shook his head, “No, I told him I had no interest in Louis. And that it wouldn’t happen again, but that doesn’t stop him from interrupting the class.”

Professor Flack nodded and secured her messenger bag over her shoulder, “Well, normally I would overlook it, but Dr. Cowell seems very concerned, and since he has seniority, I have to suggest to you that you speak to Louis about the relationship that there is supposed to be between a UTA and a student.”

Liam deadpans and his face grows hot, “I don’t understand—I can assure you, I don’t feel threatened by his comments to or about me. Nothing is going to happen between us—“

Professor Flack rubs her eyes in frustration, “I know that, Liam,” she says sincerely in a soft tone, “but could you please just do this? Just to show Dr. Cowell that you are willing to do whatever it takes to keep your job professional.”

“Of course—yes, I will do that.” Liam says, though his stomach flips over again and he feels his palms sweat.

Professor Flack smiles at him, “Thank you. I’m sorry if this is any trouble.”

Liam sighs but shakes his head, “Of course not. I’m sorry Dr. Cowell dragged you into this.”

“Well, that is really nothing new. He can be quite difficult.” She pauses to give Liam a fond smile, “I’ll see you on Thursday.”

With that she leaves, and Liam slumps against the podium for a moment before kicking it weakly in slight frustration.

So now, not only does he have to find a way to talk to Zayn that satisfies his need to get to know him and doesn’t get him in trouble, he also has to find a way to make sure Niall leaves Harry alone, and now on top of that, he has to talk to Louis about the flirting that really is harmless.

Liam really just couldn’t believe that three people he hardly knows are causing him this much trouble, and it’s only the second week of school.

And Liam has a feeling that this is just the beginning.

 

~*~

 

The next day, after Liam makes his announcement about class workshops being held on Thursdays and that he will send them an e-mail reminder, he rushes out of the classroom in order to make it to the dining hall before it closes, only to be met face-to-face with Niall.

“Hey,” Liam says surprised, “what are you doing in the psych wing? Isn’t law on the other side of campus?”

Niall blinks up at Liam but before he can speak, his eyes flick to the doorway of Dr. Cowell’s class, and Niall’s eyes light up and he pushes past Liam,

“Hey! Harry Styles, right?”

Liam turns around and groans because now, being cornered by Niall, is a confused looking Harry, accompanied by Louis.

(Zayn, Liam notices, isn’t anywhere to be found which isn’t surprising, seeing as he skipped class.)

“Niall, _don’t_ —“ Liam hisses, but naturally, Niall ignores him.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Harry says shyly, giving Liam a confused look.

“I heard your sister is Gemma, in Sigma Beta, right?” Niall asks sweetly and dammit, Liam can see Harry already taking a liking to Niall, which isn’t really hard because Niall is so personable.

Harry nods and Niall continues, “In honor of Greek unity and all that, I thought I would come and introduce myself,” Niall sticks out his hand, “Niall Horan, president of Alpha Kappa Lambda.”

Harry shakes his hand and smiles, and Liam takes this moment to look at Louis, whose eyes are narrowed.

“And I’m Louis,” Louis announces, holding out his hand for Niall to shake, “Friend of Harry’s.”

“Pleasure,” Niall says before turning his attention to Harry, “You’re a freshman right? How are you liking Modesman so far?”

Harry eyes him before answering, “I like it fine. Gem goes here so the adjustment isn’t too bad. Classes aren’t that hard, either.” He nudges Louis lightly, “I also met some pretty cool people, so, so far so good.”

Niall nods in understanding, “Have you guys been to any parties yet?”

Both of the boys shake their heads and Niall claps his hands, “ _Whaaaaaat_?! How is that possible?” Niall asks in disbelief.

Harry gives him a look, “Because it’s only the second week of school?”

Liam snorts at the answer and Niall glares at him before turning back, “No, man, because you guys aren’t hanging with the right people! Listen, if you stick with me, I can get you into all of the good parties on campus.”

Harry and Louis’ eyes shine and Liam knows they’re doomed, “Really?” Harry asks.

Niall nods, “Sure. I know your sister gets into good parties too, but she’s dating Aiden and they probably study all night and don’t do anything. But me? _Party city._ “

Harry looks impressed but Louis shakes his shoulder, “Listen, Niall, was it? I’m sure the parties are all great, but we aren’t interested in joining your _stupid_ fraternity.”

At this Niall gasps and clutches his heart as if he’s in pain, and Liam almost wants to take a seat because Niall could go into a spiel about Greek life for hours, and though he’s hungry, he wants to moderate the conversation but he also wants to watch for entertainment purposes.

“A fraternity,” Niall begins, looking at both of them, “is not stupid. It is a brotherhood, a bond between men—gentlemen. Something you can’t get by just being a traditional student on campus. The opportunities you get by even considering Greek life are sky high, and also, the parties hosted by Greeks are the best on campus! Both of you could really benefit from even considering!”

Harry gives him an apologetic smile ( _after_ taking a glance at Louis’ look of disapproval, Liam notices) but shakes his head, “I’m sorry, you guys sound great, and it’s nice that you introduced yourself, but I’m not really interested in joining any fraternities this year.”

Niall groans but Louis smiles, “I have a proposition for you.” Niall perks up and looks at him,

“Name it.”

Louis eyes Liam and then grins at Niall, “Get me a date with my TA, and I’ll consider joining.”

Liam’s eyes go wide, “ **WHAT?!** ”

“I’ll consider it—“ Niall says.

“ ** _WHAT?!_** ”

“—If you at least come out for recruitment week.” He looks from Louis and Harry, “ _Both_ of you.”

Louis crosses his arms, “I don’t like that deal. I like to know that what I’m getting is concrete.” His eyes flick to Liam for a moment before they bring themselves back to Niall.

Niall narrows his eyes darkly, and Liam knows that the fire Niall had has quadrupled, and he doesn’t like where this is going, “I like the deal just the way it is, because for one, I’m not going to whore out my best friend for recruitment—I love my fraternity, but I love him more. Secondly, you’ll forget all about Liam once you meet the Gamma boys—trust me, they are hotter than Liam.”

Liam squeaks out an offended, “ _Hey!_ ” but it goes unnoticed by Niall.

Louis nods once and gives Liam a sly grin and then sticks out his hand, “It’s a deal.”

Harry makes a noise and protests, “Hey, I never agreed—“

“Please, Styles,” Louis says, “You go where I go.” He looks to Niall, “See you at recruitment week.”

Niall nods and waves them good-bye before rushing over to Liam, who has his head buried in his hands,

“Listen, before you hit me—“

Liam hits him anyway.

“ _Ow,_ ” Niall whines, rubbing the sore spot on his shoulder, “but like I was saying, I know you can’t date your students, I get it. But I need them to go and come out for Kappa. And Louis isn’t going to even remember you when he meets Stan from Gamma, trust me; even some of the straight guys from Kappa started questioning their sexuality when they met him. Plus, I think he’s got a thing for Harry, so you really have nothing to worry about. Did you see how protective he got—?“

“Niall?” Liam interrupts.

“Yeah.”

“Just shut up.”

“Shutting up.”

Liam sighs and drags his hand down his face, “Niall, you cannot just offer me up for _dates_ with my _students_ who I am _not allowed to date_.”

Niall frowns, “I know, Li. Everything will be fine. I was not going to let him near you anyways. Like I said, I have Stan in mind for him. Plus, I think I can manage to get Harry to join and Louis will probably drop before anything becomes serious. It will all be fine!”

Liam throws his hands up in frustration, “No it won’t be fine. Because I was advised today that I have to talk to Louis about his flirtatious behavior with me, because Dr. Cowell thinks something is going on—“

“Oh shit.”

“—so _this_ doesn’t fucking help!”

Liam isn’t one to curse, but now he is nervous, because this is just _bad._

Niall starts to pace, and for a moment his face is blank before that moments passes and his eyes light up, “I have an idea—!“

“Please, don’t.” Liam pleads.

Niall cups Liam’s face in his hands and rubs his cheeks with his thumb, “Just trust me, you trust me, right? Don’t worry about this—everything will be fine. Let me take care of it. I got you into this and I will get you out. Okay?”

Niall’s words calm Liam down a little bit, because he does trust Niall, and he nods, “Fine, okay. If I get fired for this I will seriously chop your balls off.”

Niall growls and grins, “Oh baby, let’s take that dirty talk elsewhere.”

Liam shoves Niall and makes his way to the dining hall and leaving Niall when he announces he has to take care of Greek business.

He waves when they depart, and realizes that though Niall might have gotten him into deep shit, he knew he would find a way to get him out of it.

If not, he was fucked.

 

~*~

 

The next day, Liam half expects, half hopes that Zayn will turn up to the office, looking for help since he missed class the day before.

But he doesn’t turn up, and Liam is more disappointed than he would like to let on.

After that, the next day and a half passes in a blur of meetings, research, Niall’s screeching laughter at 2 in the morning, and classes.

Liam is so overwhelmed with everything that he has going on that he doesn’t realize he has the workshop for Dr. Cowell’s class until he’s about to leave campus for the day.

He nearly runs to the classroom, but when he walks in he realizes the rush was unnecessary—the classroom is empty.

It’s only 5 minutes past the hour, so Liam sets up camp at his desk and pulls out his laptop. While this is his first year as a UTA, this isn’t his first year attending workshops with other UTA’s. Normally in the first few weeks, students don’t show up because the hard work hasn’t approached yet. Liam figures this will be the case for his class as well and decides to get some extra work done in the hour that he has to sit in the room, should a student come in asking for help.

Liam is about to pull out his research proposal when he hears feet dragging themselves into the classroom and a bag being thrown onto one of the desks in the front row,

“Are you still doing that workshop thing?”

Liam looks up and really hopes that his face doesn’t look as surprised as he feels. He watches as Zayn sits down at the desk and folds his hands over the table.

“Uh.” Liam begins to say, but he pauses because he wants to make sure what is being said in his brain actually makes sense when its spoken out loud, “Y-yeah. I am. That’s why I’m here.”

The looks of relief that unfolds on Zayn’s face makes Liam hate the world (because really how could someone be so pretty), and he smiles at him, “Okay. Cool. I missed last class, so…” His voice trails off but he sits down, fidgeting with his hands as he does.

Liam nods, “That’s alright, but beware of Cowell’s attendance policy—if you miss another class it’ll measure up to a week’s worth of classes, and your grade might go down.”

Zayn’s smile falters and he rubs the back of his neck, “Right, well, I couldn’t control being out on Tuesday.”

Liam feels the tension in the room shift to something extremely uncomfortable. As a student of psychology, he’s learned that when approached with a touchy subject, people react differently. Some need to let it out immediately, and others are shy and don’t necessarily want to share, especially with people they hardly know.

And while Liam has learned all of this and stored it in the psychology part of his brain, it doesn’t mean he has to ignore the Liam part of his brain—the part that cares about whatever is going on and wants to help.

It’s this part of his brain that takes over—damn the psychology part.

He gives Zayn a calm look, “Is everything alright?”

Zayn freezes and his whole body stiffens in response, and Liam thinks he’s ruined everything. Because Liam notices how he’s no longer facing him, and how his eyes narrow, and how now Zayn is looking at him impatiently,

“Why does that fucking matter?” He asks sharply, “What’s it to _you_ , anyway?”

Liam has learned how to deal with deflection in clients countless times in his counseling courses, but he’s never learned how to deal with deflection when it comes to a student who he has a growing crush on.

It really should be a course offered at Modesman.

Liam feels his cheeks flush and his palms start to sweat, but at this moment, he knows he has to be UTA Liam and not I’ve-got-a-crush-on-Zayn Liam, so he folds his hands over the desk and leans forward, making sure to catch his eye when he does,

“N-nothing.” Liam says softly, “I mean, you are a student in a course that I work for, and I would like to see you do well. Your paper was one of the best ones in the class, and I would hate to see your grade drop because you can’t make it to class when you do all of your assignments.”

Zayn rolls his eyes, “It’s just a stupid required course I need to graduate.” He snaps.

Liam meets his gaze, “A course you consider so ‘stupid’ that you came to the first workshop for that course?”

When Zayn doesn’t respond but only glares at the table, Liam chuckles, which catches his attention.

“Listen Zayn, I don’t know why you came here tonight, and I’m sorry if I offended you in anyway. But you _did_ come here, and I have a feeling that you actually do want to do well in the course. So if you want, I can go over what Cowell taught and we can discuss it. If not—“ Liam points to the door “— _there_ is the door. I won’t hold it against you if you leave.”

Zayn gapes at him and Liam feels his cheeks flush again. Yes, he may have a crush on Zayn, but he knows that at the end of the day, this is his job. He takes it and psychology in general very seriously, and if there is a student who does not want to be taught and who is going to be a problem, then he needs to give them the option to leave.

While the UTA part of Liam actually does that, the part of Liam that has a crush on Zayn just wants him to stay, and would literally say or do almost anything to get him to. But he knows that he can’t do that if he wants to keep his job.

He doesn’t realize he’s holding his breath until Zayn sighs and pulls out a notebook and pen from his backpack and Liam lets it out.

“So, you’re staying?” Liam asks in a tone that he prays doesn’t sound too hopeful.

“Obviously,” Zayn says, “I’ll stay if you promise not to ask me about why I wasn’t in class anymore.”

Liam’s heart sinks but he figures he should take what he gets and he nods, “Deal.” He stands and goes to the class computer which has the PowerPoint from last class and pulls it up on the projector, “Now, lets get started.”

Zayn opens his notebook and Liam begins the PowerPoint, making sure Zayn gets all of the theories down as well as throwing in questions to make sure he understands the material. Liam realizes that Zayn is not only smart but incredibly well spoken and has objective opinions and by the end of the workshop, Liam is sure that Zayn will be just fine getting through the course.

As long as he doesn’t keep missing class.

“So,” Liam says to him as he gets to the last slide, “that’s about it. Do you have any questions?”

Zayn hums but shakes his head and stands up to leave, “No, I’m good. Thanks for your help, Liam.”

Liam flushes but he gives him a quick smile, “No problem. If you have any questions, you have my e-mail and my office hours.”

Zayn grins at him and Liam thinks he might die because he has no idea how this guy works, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

And then he walks out of the classroom, leaving Liam stumped with a million more questions.


	4. The One Where Recruitment Week Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,
> 
> Thank you all again for your support! Just a quick note about the towns mentioned in this fic--they are actually all real towns in the beautiful state of New Jersey where I live. I tried to use town names that were similar to where the boys are actually from in real life...and towns that were actually relatively close to where I live. I tried my best! I will say, though, that there is no college/university in Spring Lake. And Bradley Beach is too small to have its own school system. The towns are real, but the things that are said about them in the fic are not! (sorry about that, but it just worked out that way!). Also, all of this will make sense once you actually read the chapter.
> 
> Also, I'm looking to change the name of this fic. Preferable using song lyrics. If any of y'all have any suggestions, PLEASE let me know!
> 
> As always, you can find me on the internet here: http://www.writingthepostcard.tumblr.com. And also, thanks to my beta boo thaaang Anna B. <3
> 
> AND, as always, thank you again for reading. Enjoy the chapter!

The next few days are basically Liam catching up on sleep, doing prep for his research and trying to convince Niall not to harass Harry and Louis before recruitment week.

He manages to do so until Monday morning.

He wakes up at around ten, walks sleepily into the kitchen, and after he’s made his coffee, he’s startled by the door banging open and Niall trudging in, his entire body covered in mud and his hair trickled with leaves.

Liam immediately goes to tend to Niall, who, when looking up close, also has cuts up and down his arms and legs,

“Niall, what—what happened to you?!”

Unsurprisingly to Liam, Niall grins, “It’s recruitment week, Liam!”

Liam just looks at him and Niall wavers, “It’s _recruitment_ week…?”

A lightbulb goes off in Liam’s head and he narrows his eyes at his blond roommate, “You—are you—what the— _who's building were you climbing_?”

Niall shrugs and pulls a few leaves out of his hair, “That is classified information, Liam. You know I can’t share fraternity secrets. Also, how do you know I was climbing a building?”

“The cuts on your arms and legs could only be from getting scraped on rough material, ergo, a building. Plus, this isn’t my first rodeo--I’ve lived with you for how long, now?”

Niall snaps his fingers, “Damn you for being so smart.”

“Why do you guys even sneak around like that, anyway?” Liam asks Niall, who goes to the sink to wash his hands,

“Well we need to find out about them somehow, Liam. I can’t just have anyone join Kappa.”

Liam rolls his eyes, “Why don’t you just ask them what you want to know instead of potentially maiming yourself by _scaling their dorm_?!”

Niall waves his hand, “You can’t just _ask_ a potential the things you want to know, Liam. That’ll give us away. No, we have to be secretive.”

Liam gives him a pointed look, “By scaling buildings?”

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

“Nope,” Liam takes a sip of his drink, “Who were you looking for, anyway? And, how did you even get this muddy?”

Niall clears his throat, “Think of it this way, it’s best if you didn’t know who we were looking for, and, I slipped and fell into a bit of mud. Then Aiden fell. And then it turned into a mud-dog-pile thing.”

Liam shakes his head, “I will never understand you guys.”

Niall laughs, “Well you better start, because I’m pretty sure when you have your own practice and are ready to take on clients... we will _all_ be first in line.”

 

~*~

 

The next day is Tuesday, which means Liam has to sit in on Dr. Cowell’s Psych 101 course.

Of course, when he walks in the first two people he spot are Harry and Zayn. Liam has to look down to hide his blush when Zayn smiles at him, and to distract himself he starts to unload his laptop and textbook on to his desk.

“Uh, Liam?”

Liam turns around to find Harry standing in front of his desk, his tall form slumped over and his shoulders sagging, “Hey Harry,” He says easily, “What’s up?”   

Harry looks at him sheepishly and sighs, “I just wanted to apologize.”

Liam looks at him, dumbfounded, “Apologize?”

“Yeah, I feel really bad about what happened after class on Thursday.”

Liam let’s his mind wander back to Thursday post-class. He feels his blood boil at the reminder that Niall made Louis a promise he really couldn’t keep. And it all revolved around _him._

However, Liam keeps his cool and nods, “Oh right, that.” He gives Harry a reassuring look, “It’s not your fault, Harry—“

“But it is! If I had only just said yes to Niall, you wouldn’t have been put in such an awkward position.”

“I guess, but, as a UTA rule, we aren’t allowed to date students we work with. Unfortunately for Louis—and Niall, I suppose—I will be unable to fulfill Niall’s promise.”

Harry’s eyes widen, “O—oh, I didn’t realize it was an actual _rule_.”

Liam, stupidly, lets his eyes flicker to Zayn, who is doodling in his notebook, “Yeah, it is.”

And, _stupidly_ , he is starting so long at Zayn’s lean forearms that Harry follows his gaze and stalls when his gaze ends.

“Oh,” Harry says, smiling from ear to ear, like he knows.

Liam feels heat rush to his cheeks, “Wh—what? Why are you smiling like that?”

Harry shakes his head, still smirking, “No reason. Just, there was something else I wanted to ask.”

Liam prays that Harry doesn’t bring up Zayn, because Jesus Christ he is almost positive that Harry knows about his crush on Zayn. He just has to—no one smiles like _that_ without knowing something that could potentially ruin him.

“Can you tell Niall that if him and his brothers stop scaling my building and scaring my roommate, then I’ll come to recruitment week?”

Liam blinks at Harry in surprise, “Are you sure that’s what you want? Don’t go to interest meetings just because you feel guilty about what happened last week, or because you feel pressured. Joining a fraternity is a big commitment, and your decision shouldn’t be made based on an obligation you think you have.”

Harry shakes his head, “It’s not. I just, I think I need to do _something_ while I’m here. Zayn is really artsy and smart, and Louis is funny and charming, and then there is me.”

“What’s wrong with being you?” Liam asks.

“Nothing, I guess.” Harry shrugs. “It’s just… I look at Niall and his fraternity, and how happy he is, and how much fun all of his brothers have, and I think I want that. No, I know I want that.”

Liam smiles up at him and claps Harry's shoulder, “I’m proud of you.”

Harry smiles but cocks his head to the side, “Why?”

“You’re making a decision on your own, without Louis’ influence,” Liam pauses when he glances to the back of the lecture hall and doesn't see Louis in his usual seat. “Where is Louis, anyways?”

Harry waves his hand dismissively, “He’s somewhere in the Drama department, wrecking havoc, I’m sure.” Harry’s reassuring look turns somewhat nervous at the mention of Louis and he frowns, “But thanks, yeah, Louis has very strong opinions, and being a part of Greek Life is one he won’t shut up about. He’s one of my best friends, though, so of course I want him to be happy with my decision too. His opinion matters to me, regardless if he can be an ass sometimes, ya know?”

Liam nods, “Well, you have to make a decision that’s best for you. I’m sure Louis understands that.”

Harry shrugs, “I’m sure he does, deep down. I know he’s only looking out for me.”

“As a good friend should.” Liam agrees, already feeling Harry’s frustration with Louis, and Harry’s need to talk out his feelings.

“Right,” Harry says, “I just think sometimes he looks out for himself more than anyone.”

Liam doesn’t have the time to respond because Harry squeaks, “Sorry for getting all personal on you. I didn’t mean to—“

Liam waves his hand, “Of course not. It’s alright. Anytime you need to talk you can see me here or e-mail me—whatever.”   

“Yeah,” Harry says, giving him a big smile, “Thanks, and, you know, same here. If you ever need to talk about—“ He goes to turn around and look behind him, but decides against it, “—whatever.”

Liam laughs, but blushes again and he's pretty sure he is going to die, though he feels reassured by Harry’s words, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Cool—“

“Mr. Styles,” Liam sits up straight at the sound of Dr. Cowell’s voice. Harry stiffens and his eyes go wide, “So glad you are taking time to speak to my TA," Dr. Cowell drawls, "However, I would love if you took a seat so we can begin lecture.”

“Yes sir, sorry,” He turns to Liam, “Thanks again, Liam.”

“ _Mr. Styles_.” Dr. Cowell says, warningly.

“Right, okay, sorry!” Harry squeaks.

Dr. Cowell smiles cruelly as he watches Harry half-trip, half-run up the stairs of the lecture hall and to his seat, earning giggles from many students in the room.

 

~*~

 

Liam returns to his apartment that evening to be attacked in a hug by Niall before he even has time to put his bag on the floor.

“I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you _I love you_.” Liam laughs at Niall’s profession and manages to push him off.

“I know this—but what’s the reason today?”

Niall grins and grabs Liam’s shoulders in excitement, “Harry Styles came up to me before I left campus and told me he was interested in Kappa! This is fantastic. With Harry joining us we have _fourteen_ potentials who are coming out for recruitment week!”

Liam smiles at him, “I’m happy for you, and for Harry. He talked to me about his decision right before our class today.”

“Oh yeah?” Niall asks, his excitement radiating, “What did he say?”

Liam shrugs and makes his way into the kitchen, “Just that he wants to do something, and he saw how much fun you and your brothers had, and that he wants that too.”

“This is great!” Niall exclaims, “He’ll make a great brother, I just know it.” He plops onto the counter while Liam pulls out a pot and fills it with water. He is pulling out the ingredients to make spaghetti when Niall clears his throat,

“Sooooooo…”

Liam rolls his eyes, “Sooooooooo what?”

“ _Sooooooo_ , you never told me how your workshop with Zayn went. I’ve been dying in suspense.”

Liam blushes but he shrugs to hide his embarrassment, “It was fine, I guess. He missed class so that’s why he came…but he is super smart and he caught up quickly. Though something weird did happen in the beginning—“

“—what was it?” Niall interjected.

Liam gives Niall a looks that says I-would-tell-you-if-you’d-let-me-speak and he continues, “I asked him if everything was okay since he didn’t come to class, and he pretty much shut down and projected his anger and/or frustration onto me. Which isn’t surprising in most cases, but…”

Niall tilts his head to the side and looks at Liam questioningly, “but…?”

Liam sighs dejectedly and crosses his arms while he waits for the water to boil, “I just felt like there was something different about him? I didn’t think he would react like that. Like yeah, he has this air of mystery to him, but for some reason I thought he would be able to talk to me. I don’t know. I think I’m just being stupid.”

Niall shakes his head, “I don’t think you’re being stupid. In most cases, people normally do tell you almost anything if you just ask, or give them your damn puppy dog eyes. You just happened to pick a stubborn as hell guy. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“Easy for you to say.” Liam mutters. It’s all Liam’s been thinking about since it happened. The session went well at the end, but the start of it still really bothered him.

“Well Li, there is a way I could make you forget about it, at least for a little while.”

Liam gives Niall a look and Niall blinks innocently, “There’s a party tonight at the Sigma house. It’s like a welcome back to school party. You should come, at least for an hour. Hang out with me and the boys, have a beer, have some fucking _fun_ , and then go home.”

Liam shakes his head, “Absolutely not.”

Niall leaps off of the counter and groans, “Why nottttttt? What is the harm in one beer? You’re legal, and it’s only for an hour. If we leave at ten we’ll be home by eleven, which is before you even go to bed anyway.”

“I always go to bed at ten.” Liam counters immediately as he stirs the spaghetti into the boiling water.

“No,” Niall says immediately, “You always go to your room at ten if you’re even home that early, but you’re always up until at least midnight every night.”

Liam stills as he tries to rack his brain for another excuse to go out, but he can’t think of one before Niall is on him again,

“You don’t have an excuse not to go! You are making dinner now; we are going to eat that dinner, and then you are going to put on an outfit I pick for you, and then we are going out and you are going to forget about school, class, your job, and Zayn Malik. We are going to have a fucking blast. It’s our senior year Liam, and we should be spending it together doing stupid shit and not worrying about guys we just met, alright?”

By the end of Niall’s ‘speech’, he has grasped Liam’s shoulders in a comforting but stern way, and Liam feels he has no other choice but to nod his head. “Alright, fine.”

Niall grins at him, “Yes! It’s gunna be a fucking blast! You’ll see!”

Liam shrugs, “I guess so.”

Niall waves him off and leaves the kitchen to presumably go into Liam’s room to pick his outfit for the night. While Liam still feels worried about Zayn, he eventually realizes that Niall is right. This is their senior year, and though Liam won’t be partying every night, he knows that this is the last time he will be able to go out and hang out with Niall whenever he wants. They both will be off doing different things in different places after graduation. So although Liam doesn’t necessarily want to go to this party, he figures he should go anyway, because its an experience, and he doesn’t want to waste too much time worrying about Zayn when he could be spending his last year of college with his best friend.

“Hey Liam! How do you feel about wearing feathers?!”

Liam rolls his eyes and rushes to his room to find Niall with three different colored boas wrapped around his shoulders and a bright tye-dyed shirt in his hand. Niall grins at him and holds up the items to him,

“So what do you think?”

_Why did I agree to this?_ Liam thinks.

“If you want me to go out with you, please pick something that wouldn’t be featured on a circus magazine.” Liam says.

Niall rolls his eyes, “You’re no fun, Liam Payne.”

“It’s why you love me.”

“Love is such a strong word. I prefer not to use it in this context.”

“Yeah yeah yeah…” Liam feels himself grinning as he exits his bedroom, but he also feels a sense of sadness as well. He’ll miss this banter with Niall after they graduate.

He concludes again that Niall is right, and that he shouldn’t be worrying about Zayn when he has all of senior year to look forward to and all of the things he and Niall will be doing.

“Liam! Where are my light-up rollerblades and water guns! Wait, do you have hair dye?”

Liam winces as he hears Niall tear through their hallway closet, dropping most if not all of the boxes that were on the top shelf.

Okay, so maybe Liam isn’t looking forward to _everything._

 

~*~

 

The party is in full swing by the time Liam and Niall show up at ten. The party is at the Sigma house, which houses the prettiest girls on campus, according to Niall.

The second they walk into the house they are immediately handed bears and ushered into the mass of people walking around the house.

“I’m going to go find my brothers! Follow me—they are probably owning the beer pong table as we speak.”

Niall points to the back-porch area of the house and Liam follows him, scanning the crowds as he did so just to look interested.

And if he was also looking for a particular black haired boy in the process, so be it.

They make it to the back of the house in one piece and Niall immediately goes to the top of the beer pong table to take over the game that was currently going on. Liam smiles and watches as Niall dominates, sinking the ball in every time it’s his turn. Liam thinks maybe Niall should play basketball or something; Niall thinks Liam is thinking too much into a party game.

“Liam! You should totally be my partner on the next round.” Niall’s arm is around his shoulders now, and Liam leans into the touch.

“Nah, I suck. I’ll be the reason you lose.”

“You don’t know you suck because you’ve never played before. Come on, play with me! It’ll be fun. I promise.”

Niall pulls Liam away from the wall and towards the game, where Niall is immediately given two ping pong balls and another beer. Liam waves to his opponents--two people he recognizes as newer brothers in Kappa—and Niall begins the game.

Liam, surprisingly, is pretty decent at beer pong. He manages to sink in all of his shots—which is better for him because he did not plan on drinking that much anyways. By the end of the game he’s definitely having more fun than he anticipated, and Kappa brothers are coming up to him and asking him to play on their team for upcoming rounds.

“No, no! Back off of my beer pong partner.” Niall says, pushing his brothers away from Liam, “he’s mine. And none of you can have him.”

Liam laughs and takes another swig of his beer. Niall ruffles his hair and raises his cup to Liam and the rest of his brothers,

“Everyone raise your cups in a cheers—this one goes to Liam Payne, the envy of all beer pong players.”

Everyone around them raises their cups towards Liam, “To Liam!”

When Liam has downed the last of his drink, he meets eyes with Niall, who pulls him from the group of Kappa’s and into the living room.

“So, I want to find Harry—this party _technically_ starts all of the recruitment events for Greek life. This is the big social gathering with all of the fraternities and sororities. I want to make sure Harry doesn’t get sucked into another fraternity…and you’re going to help me do that.”

Liam blinks at him. “Me? How the hell am I going to do that?”

“Just be your charming, adorable, smart self and I’ll do the rest. I basically just need a pretty face next to me.”

Liam rolls his eyes but follows Niall out of the living room and towards other rooms of the house. He’s never been in the Sigma house before, so he didn’t realize how large it was until now.

They walk for about ten more minutes when Niall stops in his tracks and points straight in front of him, “YAHTZEE!” He yells, before making a break for Harry, who is standing on the opposite wall next to Louis.

When Liam gets to the three of them, Harry smiles at him,

“Hey Liam! I did not expect to see you here.”

Liam shrugs, “That makes two of us.”

Niall grips Liam’s shoulder, “I made him come out tonight. Wanted to show him a good time, like a good friend should.”

“ _I_ could show him a good time.”

It’s then that Liam actually notices Louis, who is leaning against the wall like he’s Danny Zuko or something. Liam rolls his eyes but gives him a look,

“You’re not showing me a good _anything_. I can’t date the students in my teaching assistant classes. So I’d appreciate it if you back off with the flirting.”

Louis smirks and Liam thinks he’s taking his words as a challenge.

“I can’t stop something that comes so naturally to me, Liam,” he says, “And who says we have to date? I just want to see you with your pants off.”

“ _Louis!_ ” Harry hisses, his face red with embarrassment.

“No need to be shy, Harry." Louis waves at him dismissively, "Just because you haven’t gone past second base doesn’t mean we have to be privy to your virgin ears.”

The group goes dead silent. Liam looks to Niall, who is glaring at Louis. Harry, now completely mortified, looks down at the ground and mutters something about using the bathroom before scurrying off in the complete opposite direction of Louis, who is looking unashamed at Liam. 

“That was fucked up.” Niall spats, giving Louis a death glare before walking away, presumably to find Harry and make sure he’s all right.

Louis rolls his eyes and waves dismissively when Niall turns away, “Eh, Harry’ll be fine. We talk like that to each other all of the time.”

Liam gives him a look and frowns, “Maybe to you it’s funny, but you probably hurt Harry’s feelings. And he probably didn’t want basically complete strangers knowing his business. If you were as good of a friend as Harry says you are, you would know that.”

“He’ll get over it.” Louis reiterates after a moment of hesitation, though his eyes trace the path Harry took when he stormed off.

“I don’t know.” Liam muses. “He really admires you, Louis. For whatever reason, he seems to value your opinion, and I think next time you want to decide to speak, you might want to think about what you say; I would hate to see this friendship end over something stupid like your big mouth.”

Louis sighs regretfully and rubs the back of his neck, “I didn’t mean to be a jerk—“ he says softly.

“Well you were.” Liam says forcefully.

“Jesus Liam, I get it, okay? Harry, he--. I really li--." A pause. "He’s just so innocent. I just like to tease him.”

Liam senses the genuineness and relaxes a little, “We all have that friend who we think we can tease and gang up on for fun. Trust me, I know--I was that friend with Niall. But eventually we have to grow up and out of that.”

Louis smiles a little, “I never want to grow up.”

Liam shakes his head and laughs, “Classic Peter Pan syndrome, I should have known.”

“Is that what they call 19 year old college students who have no idea what to do with their lives?”

Liam tilts his head to the side and blinks, “Possibly. Are you talking about yourself?”

Louis rolls his eyes. “You don’t need your precious psychology education to know that about me—you could just ask.”

Liam stuffs his hands in his pockets, “I never got the opportunity to. I can’t necessarily associate with you, or be your friend when you’ve made it a point to publicly flirt with me in front of my boss. That really needs to stop, by the way. I can’t work in your class if you aren’t going to stop your advances even when I ask you to.”

Louis frowns and leans against the wall again, his hands falling into his own pockets, “I didn’t realize it was a legit rule. Harry told me it was, but I didn’t believe him.”

“Well you should listen to him sometime. He’s a really smart guy, you know. He could also probably help you out in our psychology class if you let him. And I’m telling you, you could use it.”

Louis shakes his head, “Probably. But Harry isn’t the smart one in the group. That goes to Zayn.”

At the mention of his name, Liam’s stomach does somersaults. _Keep it cool_ , he thinks. He doesn’t want anyone, especially _Louis_ , to get any indication that Liam has a rapidly growing crush on Zayn.

“Really?” Liam squeaks.

Louis nods, not noticing Liam’s inner turmoil, “Oh yeah. He just transferred in, but that boy’s from Bradley Beach. They have one of the better high schools in this state. I think he graduated second in his class…or maybe it was first, I don’t know. But yeah, I don’t know why that kid isn’t at Harvard or something.”

Liam nods, loving this new information he was getting. And Bradley Beach…that wasn’t _too_ far from where Liam lived in Wyckoff. “So he’s from Bradley Beach…where are you from?”

“Dover Township. Harry is from Holmdel. So we all live kind of close to each other. But Bradley Beach...I’m telling you—well, I guess it makes sense. We go to school in Spring Lake, which is literally ten minutes from Bradley Beach. His family means everything to him. And they need him a lot of the time to run errands and take care of his sisters.”

He pauses and Liam is so entranced in hearing about Zayn that he almost misses the awkward silence.

“Is there something else?” Liam urges softly.

“Well,” Louis hums, “I think there might be something else going on with him. He seems off…and in a pissy mood. I mean, he’s always in a pissy mood, but something about him seems like there is something else going on. Maybe something at home—“

“Louis!”

Both Louis and Liam turn around to see Niall dragging a taller boy by the arm towards them. When they get closer, Liam realizes that the taller boy is Stan from Gamma.

“Louis,” Niall huffs, while shoving Stan towards him, “This is Stan. I thought you might get along better with him than you will with Liam. He’s more your speed.”

Liam gives Niall a looks that says _really?_ and watches as Louis gives Stan a once over.

Louis grins devilishly at Stan and Liam silently thanks God for Niall’s amazing ability to play matchmaker.

“You were right about him Niall,” Stan says, not taking his eyes off of Louis.

“Oh yeah?” Louis says, smirking, “Right about what?”

Stan smirks and grabs his hand, “Come with me to find out.”

And literally, like that, they are both gone.

Niall sighs in relief, “Thank god. Sorry I couldn’t find Stan faster for you, Liam. He was doing the keg stand of all keg stands.”

Liam shrugs, “No worries. I actually had an interesting conversation with him. He’s not too bad.” A pause, “How’s Harry?”

Niall frowned and shook his head, “I felt so bad for him, man. He’s such a sweet kid—such a nice guy. He doesn’t deserve that shit. I found him outside in front of the house. He said he was fine, that that’s just how Louis is. Anyways, he said he was still coming out for recruitment, and that he was just going to head home for the night.”

Liam yawns loudly, “He has the right idea.”

Niall laughs and claps Liam on the shoulder, “Heading home, grandpa?”

“Probably. It’s way past eleven and I’m already beat.”

Niall nods, “Alright, don’t wait up for me.”

“I never do.”

They laugh, say their goodbyes, and then Liam heads home, promptly falling asleep the minute his head his pillow.


	5. The One With Clean Slates And Funny Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Songs mentioned/used in this chapter: Funny Face by Fred Astaire // Let It Be by Labrinth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all,
> 
> Thank you so much for your support and your dedication to this fic. I'm glad y'all like it as much as I do. Sorry for the delay with this chapter--real life calls!
> 
> As ALWAYS, thanks to my amazing beta Anna B. Who is the light of my life and the wind beneath my wings. This chapter is longer than the others, and I promise you'll actually see Zayn in this one.
> 
> Enjoy :) xx

The next day, Liam feels like he doesn’t have time to catch his breath until his research prep. The morning was filled with class, some meetings for the psychology departments’ organizations board and, in between that, fielding text messages from Niall asking him if he knew about Harry’s late 50s movie preferences.

By the time he gets to the psych department for his research prep, he’s exhausted. He almost gives into the idea of using his research prep hour to take a nap, but the reminder that he is a senior with graduate school applications to fill out before their deadline consumes him. He groans and opens his laptop, browsing through his graduate application folder before picking one that is unfinished.

He is just about to start on the essay question for his application _(“If you could have dinner with a person, dead or alive, who would that person be and why?”_ ) when he hears a _ding!_ from his computer. Liam recognizes the notification as his e-mail app, and he pulls it up to see if its an e-mail he can throw into his junk folder, but the name of the sender stops him in his tracks.

**Zayn Malik**

Liam freezes and his heart gives a little jump at the sight of his name. He quickly looks over to the subject line.

**(No Subject).**

Liam hums in confusion and opens the email.

 **From:** [z.malik@modesman.edu](mailto:z.malik@modesman.edu)

 **Subject:** (No Subject).

_Hey,_

_I just wanted to say thanks for helping me last week. I learn better from you than from Cowell, to be honest._

_And I’m also sorry for snapping at you. It wasn’t personal._

_Thanks again._

Liam stares at his computer screen in disbelief. The last thing he was expecting was for Zayn to contact him. Especially since they didn’t necessarily start that session off on the right foot. And since he hasn’t heard from him since that session.

Although the end of the session wasn’t too bad.

Liam is curious now—why would Zayn bring that up? Why would Zayn contact him at all? _To be nice?_ But Liam didn’t picture Zayn to be the type of guy to do that sort of thing. Not that he even—

Liam’s head is spinning, and that curiosity is nagging at him. He wants to reply, definitely, but that practical, logical part of Liam knows that he has to keep it professional…or at least try to.

He hits the reply button and his heart thumps wildly before he begins his reply,

 **From:** [l.payne@modesman.edu](mailto:l.payne@modesman.edu)

 **Send to:** [z.malik@modesman.edu](mailto:z.malik@modesman.edu)

 **Subject:** Re: (No Subject).

_Hi Zayn,_

_I’m glad to see that you’re feeling better about the course. Dr. Cowell’s use of jargon even has me pulling out a dictionary sometimes._

_Also, don’t worry about what happened last week. I didn’t mean to pry into your life or make you feel uncomfortable._ _And again, I’m sorry if I did._

Liam lets out a shaky breath before hitting the send button, knowing if he read the e-mail over he would either chicken out, or rewrite it a million times before sending it…and who knows how long that could take.

Liam stares at his computer for a few moments before he realizes he’s actually sitting around and waiting for a reply. It’s stupid, Liam thinks, to be doing such a thing. This is not _You’ve Got Mail_ , and Liam is most certainly _not_ Meg Ryan waiting for Tom Hanks to answer an e-mail.

Liam groans, minimizes his e-mail app and opens his research prep file. If there’s one thing that has any chance of distracting him from a potentially impending e-mail, its doing research.

Liam works for a few minutes on his proposal when he hears a _ding!_ come from his e-mail app. He freezes and his heart beats erratically as he quickly pulls up the app.

 **From:** [z.malik@modesman.edu](mailto:z.malik@modesman.edu)

 **Subject:** Re: re: (No subject)

_You didn’t…not really. It’s more just how I am. Sometimes I ‘hulk out’ when I don’t know what to say or do…for lack of a better term. It’s just something my sister says I do when I am rude. I mean it’s really not as bad as the Hulk I guess, but…I don’t know I’m rambling._

_Can we just start over?_

Liam stares at the e-mail and has to stop himself from replying _YES LETS BE FRIENDS_ quite a few times before managing a more appropriate response.

 **From:** [l.payne@modesman.edu](mailto:l.payne@modesman.edu)

 **Send to:** [z.malik@modesman.edu](mailto:z.malik@modesman.edu)

 **Subject:** Re: re: re: (No Subject).

_If that’s the case, then maybe it’s not so bad. The Hulk’s a little scary, but Bruce ain’t half bad._

_Sure, we can start over._

_Hi, I’m Liam, your TA._

Liam hits send and anxiously waits for a reply, not caring if he’s Meg Ryan or Tom Hanks at this point.

A few minutes later the _ding!_ is heard, and Liam immediately opens up the reply,

 **From:** [z.malik@modesman.edu](mailto:z.malik@modesman.edu)

 **Subject:** Re: re: re: re: (No Subject).

_I wouldn’t know too much to be honest. I’m more of a DC guy myself._

_Hi, I’m Zayn. Friends with the curly haired kid and the obnoxious idiot in the back of class._

Liam grins at the DC reference and immediately starts typing, not really caring if he comes off as a comic book geek or not (which he totally is).

 **From:** [l.payne@modesman.edu](mailto:l.payne@modesman.edu)

 **Send to:** [z.malik@modesman.edu](mailto:z.malik@modesman.edu)

 **Subject:** Batman or Superman?

_That’s a serious question in the subject line._

_Liam_

**From:** [z.malik@modesman.edu](mailto:z.malik@modesman.edu)

 **Subject:** Is that even a question?

_The answer is so obvious I can’t believe I’m actually typing it out: Batman, clearly._

Liam can’t help but grin as he types out his reply, and he ends up e-mailing Zayn for the rest of his research prep hour, talking about everything from DC and Marvel, to the depressing state of the dormitories, and even to Louis and Harry.

Liam barely notices the time fly by, but he does notice the lack of work he got done in lieu of e-mailing Zayn.

 _You never know, it might be worth it._ Niall’s words are ringing in Liam’s ears and as Liam is packing up his things to head for his class, he can’t help but think that Niall might actually be right.

 

~*~

 

Liam doesn’t get home up nine o’clock that night, and upon opening the door to his apartment he is immediately met with the television blasting and Niall singing in the kitchen.

 _“I love your funny face. Your sunny funny face_!”

Liam closes the door behind him and follows the sound of Niall’s melodic voice into the kitchen. Niall is taking something out of the oven and putting it on the stove when Liam walks in. Liam shakes his head and crosses his arms,

“ _Funny Face_? Really Niall? Is this going to be a thing again?” If there’s one thing Liam loves and hates about Niall, it’s the way Niall can obsess over anything so easily. And sometimes when Liam thinks the obsession has gone away, it always finds a way to creep back up again. The first time Niall watched _Funny Face_ was when the ‘Fred Astaire Affiar’ (as Niall proudly called it) began, and Liam swore he could recite all of _Funny Face, Top Hat,_ and _Daddy Long Legs_ in his sleep.

Niall gives him a look over his shoulder, “Again? Fred Astaire _never_ goes out of style, Liam. Also, remember Audrey Hepburn in that movie? She reminds me of you—bookish, opinionated, intelligent. Basically, I’m the Fred Astaire to your Audrey Hepburn. I’ve found our 1950s counterparts!”

Liam rolls his eyes, “Except I’m not putting on a wedding dress and I’m not in love with you.”

“But I am an excellent dancer, incredibly charming, and when I pick your clothes you do look pretty good.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Liam laughs.

Niall grins, “That’s the spirit, Audrey.” He pauses to grab to plates from the cabinet. “I figured you would be hungry so I made one of those oven pizza things for the both of us.”

Liam grins at him gratefully and takes a bite of pizza, not realizing how hungry he is until he finishes his first slice in a matter of seconds.

Niall chuckles, “Easy there, killer. Remember: chew, then swallow. It’s something you learned during infancy.”

Liam rolls his eyes, “You’re the worst. And I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”

“Have you eaten at all today?” Niall asks, concerned.

Liam nods, “Yeah, I ate breakfast, and had a bag of chips for lunch. Today was just a crazy day. I didn’t have time for anything besides school and meetings, really.”

“You need to relax, Liam.” Niall’s look hardens when Liam rolls his eyes, “I’m serious. I know this is your senior year, and that you have to bust ass to get into grad school and do the things you want to do, but you also need to take time for yourself.”

Liam understands, but he’s heard the ‘try not to burn out before graduation’ speech over a dozen times in these first few weeks of school, and he doesn’t need another reminder.

“I know Ni,” Liam says gently, understanding his friend’s concern, “But I gotta do what I gotta do. There are no breaks in grad school—I’m just preparing myself or what’s to come.”

Niall frowns, “I know. But Liam. Come on man, you’re killing yourself trying to get everything done. We have _time_ , bro. The first month of school isn’t even over. Can you try and relax for a little while?”

Liam wants to hate Niall for this, but he can’t bring himself to. In some ways, he knows Niall is right, but he also knows he has priorities and obligations to fill.

“I’ll try Niall, okay? I promise, I’ll try.” And Liam really does want to try.

Niall smiles softly, “Okay. And I can help you too, ya know. We can do like an hour or two a day and just chill. I’m not psychology major but I do know that you can’t over work yourself. You’ll _die_.”

Liam laughs, “Okay, Mr. Overdramatic, I don’t think I’ll die.”

Niall shrugs, “Just gotta be careful, Liam. Okay? You’re my best friend. I don’t want to see anything happen to you.”

Liam recognizes the genuine concern in Niall’s voice and he goes to his side, wrapping his arms around his shoulders,

“Nothing will happen. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

Liam feels Niall relax under his arms, “Okay, good.”

Liam smiles into Niall’s hair for a moment before Niall releases him. Niall then grins wickedly and winks seductively at him, “ _I love your funny face_.”

“Stop it.” Liam warns.

“ _Your sunny_ —“

“Niall.”

“ _funny_ —“

“I’m leaving.”

“ _FACE_.”

Liam races out of the kitchen, feeling annoyed but knows a smile is playing on his lips. By the time he gets to his room, the sound from the TV is being drowned out by Niall’s laughter and cries for Liam to come back to the kitchen.

Liam ignores him for a chance to flop onto his bed after his long day. He knows he probably is overworking himself like Niall thinks he is, but he really can’t help it. He knows that he needs to do all that he can if he wants to get into graduate school.

On the plus side, Liam loves school, so he doesn’t mind doing all of the extra stuff he needs to do--in fact he actually enjoys it.

His mind starts to wander towards his unfinished graduate school applications, and _everything else_ that he has to do in order to prepare for graduate school when his phone makes a _ding!_ sound. He pulls out his phone from his pocket and sees he has a new text message.

**From: Niall**

_get your ass away from your books, out of your room and onto our couch. pretty little liars is on._

Liam doesn’t get to respond before another text comes through.

**From: Niall**

_i know you don’t think aria is hot but i know you would totally bang ezra fitz._

Liam laughs out loud, but blushes at the Ezra Fitz comment.

**To: Niall**

_1\. why couldn’t you just come to my room and tell me? 2. I’m not looking at my books. 3. I don’t watch Pretty Little Liars. Just tell me who A is when you find out and I’ll be happy._

Liam lays on his back and plops his phone onto his chest, letting his eyes drift closed just for a moment. He doesn’t realize how tired he actually is until its thirty minutes later and he hears a loud banging at his door, which jolts him from his deep sleep.

Niall doesn’t wait for Liam to answer and he barges into the room, looking fresh from a shower and dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a white polo. Liam frowns up at him,

“Whatareyoudoing?” he mumbles, running the sleep from his eyes.

“Waking you up to tell you I’m leaving.”

Liam’s frown deepens, “Where are you going?”

“It’s _recruitment week_ , Liam. Kappa is having a social tonight. I know Harry and Louis are going to be there, and rumor has it that they are dragging their friend _Zayn_ to the social as well.”

Liam’s heart jolts. “Really?”

Niall grins joyously. “Yep. I know tonight is the night I’m going to secure Harry as a potential pledge, but if I can get Zayn and Louis in too, that would be fantastic.”

Liam shakes his head at the thought of Louis and Zayn joining Kappa, especially Zayn. “Zayn will never join.”

Niall rolls his eyes, “How the hell would you know? It’s not like you’ve actually talked about it.”

Liam blushes and shrugs, “Well, no, but, I have talked to him more since…you know.”

Niall’s eyes go wide. “Since the workshop? Really? Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“I didn’t get the chance—“

“Save it. Tell me now. What happened? Tell me everything.” Niall literally jumps onto Liam’s bed on his knees, his eyes wide with excitement.

Liam huffs a sigh and relays the e-mail conversations with Niall, even showing him some from the e-mail app on his phone.

“ _Batman versus Superman? Who would win_?” Niall says incredulously while reading one of the subject lines. He looks up at Liam.

“Yeah,” Liam breathes, “He likes that kind of stuff, too.”

Niall smiles, “Incredible. That’s great, Li. I’m happy for you.”

Liam gives him a look, “ _But_ …?”

“But there needs to be _more_. This is just like a tiny hurdle, okay? You need to be jumping over mountains! I know he’s your student and blah blah blah, but come on man. He clearly has at least a little interest in you. I say go for it.”

Liam’s heart pounds at the thought but he shakes his head, “You telling me to go for it might as well be you telling me to go and quit my job.”

“Do you know how many teaching assistants sleep and date the students they work with? This isn’t a new concept, Liam!”

“I don’t want to lose my job, Niall.” Liam repeats.

“Even if that means not being able to get with this guy who you obviously have a growing _thing_ for?”

Liam stalls, but he knows the rules. “Even then. Look. First of all, we don’t even know if Zayn feels anything for me at all. We barely know each other. A few e-mails isn’t going to change anything. Second. Even if he did feel something, it’s not like something can't ever happen. I just have to wait until the semester is over.”

“Exactly! That’s too long, Liam.”

Liam frowns. “No it’s not. If—if he actually likes me…don’t you think…don’t you think he would wait?”

“No one thinks you deserve that more than me" Niall sighs, "But he’s new to this school, and he’s really good looking. I don’t know what kind of guy he is but you have to admit that you wouldn’t be surprised if he started sleeping with anyone and everyone.”

Liam doesn’t say anything and Niall hugs him tight.

“My point is,” Niall says when they pull apart, “That if you want him, you have to go for it. I don’t want you to miss out on something great just because you didn’t show him your interest.”

“He also has to show interest in order for me to actually miss out on him, Niall.” Liam reminds him painfully.

Niall blinks at him, “Well he’d be an idiot not to be interested in you Liam. Seriously. A _fucking_ idiot.”

Liam smiles gratefully at his best friend and Niall stands, straightening out his jeans, “I would love to stay and compliment you more, but I have to go. I came in here originally to tell you I was leaving and to invite you to come with me. You could use this opportunity to talk to Zayn if he goes!”

Liam shakes his head, although he’s tempted to get up and go with him, “I really shouldn’t, Ni. Besides, I’m really tired. I’m probably just gunna go to bed.”

Niall crosses his arms but grins, “Sure you are. _Or_ you’re going to pour through those e-mails and analyze every single one.”

“That thing they say about psychology majors analyzing everything is a _myth_ , Niall!”

“Doesn’t mean you won’t do it the second I leave.” Niall says and then sighs again, “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

Liam settles deeper into his bed, smiling, “I’m positive. Have fun. Try not to set any alarms or break anything when you come back, okay?”

Niall chuckles. “Have some faith in me, will ya?”

Liam waves him off and Niall shouts when he actually leaves the apartment. Silence fills the apartment and Liam reaches for his phone, ready to open his music app when he notices his e-mail app is still on the screen.

He opens the e-mails he was showing Niall and can’t help but smile as he reads through them. He knows Zayn was probably just being nice, or talking to him because he felt guilty about what happened at their session.

He throws his phone onto the other side of his bed, for fear of proving Niall right and over analyzing simple e-mails. He groans and decides to get ready for bed, exhaustion flooding him again.

Though, if he thinks about the e-mails as he’s brushing his teeth, and if he’s thinking about Zayn’s intentions when he throws on his basketball shorts and takes off his shirt, and if he’s thinking about Zayn when he crawls into bed, then he isn’t going to tell Niall about it.

 

~*~

 

The next day is Thursday, which means Liam has to sit in Dr. Cowell’s class.

He rushes into the classroom with a few minutes to spare before Dr. Cowell gets there. He pulls out his laptop and settles into his seat, taking a moment to glance up to the top row of the lecture hall.

He spots Louis with his arm around Harry. Harry is grinning as Louis whispers something into his ear. He thinks he can see Harry blush and his eyes go soft when Louis pulls away, but he’s too far away to actually tell.

He looks to the seat next to Harry’s and finds it empty. Liam frowns at Zayn’s empty seat, knowing that if he isn’t in class by now, he probably isn’t going to show up at all. Liam feels disappointment flood through him and he slouches in his chair, but only for a moment because just then Dr. Cowell enters the classroom.

“Good morning class. Please get settled so we can begin the lesson.”

The students in the class immediately settle into their seats and Liam smiles at them reassuringly. He looks over to Dr. Cowell, and immediately he realizes that he doesn’t want to be there. The empty seat at the top of the lecture hall is haunting him, and he can’t help but look up at it, hoping that the boy who smells like cigarettes and cologne with tattoos up and down his arm will magically appear…even though Liam knows he won’t.

“Right. So today we are going to be talking about the psychological well being of people with cancer,” Dr. Cowell begins, “I know this is a personal topic, and you do not have to talk about it if you don’t feel comfortable, but does anyone in here know someone, or knew someone who had cancer?”

A few people raise their hands, and Liam is intrigued to see that Louis and Harry both raise theirs.

Dr. Cowell nods solemnly and leans against the podium. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he says empathetically, “Cancer is a very difficult thing to manage, not only for the cancer patient, but also for their caregivers and loved ones.” The class is silent at Dr. Cowell’s sincerity, and Liam thinks they are probably surprised that Dr. Cowell has this side to him.

Of course, Dr. Cowell has the reputation of being a bit of a hard ass, but Liam also realizes that he is a professor of psychology, and he also practices counseling. So while Dr. Cowell may be a hard grader and difficult to work with sometimes, Liam knows there is a side of him that is caring and warm.

“Is anyone willing to share anything about the person they know? You don’t have to if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.” Dr. Cowell asks softly. A few people raise their hands, and one of them is Louis.

“Mr. Tomlinson?”

Louis lowers his hand and sighs, “Uh yeah, I know someone—my friend…his mom has cancer. Or—yeah, she has cancer.”

Dr. Cowell gives Louis a sympathetic look, “I’m sorry about that, Louis. Do you mind sharing a little bit more?”

Louis frowns and glances over to Harry, whose eyes glance sideways before returning to Louis and nodding to him,

“Yeah, uhm, so my friend’s mom has cancer. She’s been in and out of remission a few times, according to my friend. And, he has to take care of her a lot of times. He’s sad a lot too. And he misses a lot of school to take care of her.”

Dr. Cowell nods and hums, “Thank you for sharing—“

“He won’t talk to anyone about it,” Louis rushes, almost desperately, “I mean, I had to pull it out of him the other day because he’s just been in such a _mood_ and it’s driving me crazy. I mean we’re friends, we’re supposed to tell each other that kind of stuff, right? That’s what friends do? I just want to help—and…and that day that I finally got it out of him? It was a _complete_ shit show—“

“ _Louis_ ,” Harry hisses next to him before placing a calming arm on Louis’ forearm. Liam notices that Louis is visibly stressed, with tense muscles and furrowed brow.

Louis looks to Dr. Cowell, and Liam notices how truly worried Louis looks for his friend. Dr. Cowell must see this as well because he nods understandingly, his face neutral,

“I can see how that is a struggle for you and you friend, Louis. If you want, I am available immediately after class if you want to talk about it some more.” He gives Louis a look, “I have to move on now. But thank you for sharing, I really appreciate it.”

Louis nods and slinks into his seat, and Harry immediately puts an arm around his shoulder and whispers something into his ear, making the smaller boy smile.

Liam watches Dr. Cowell as he moves to the projector screen, pointing to the power point slide, “As I mentioned, caregivers and loved ones also don’t have it easy when it comes to those they care about having cancer. What are some challenges that a caregiver could face in this situation?”

A few people answer the question and class continues, with Liam keeping an eye on Louis and Harry for the duration of class.

When class is over, Liam watches as Harry nudges Louis towards Dr. Cowell. Louis taps him on the shoulder and they begin to talk in hushed tones. Harry approaches Liam and leans against his desk,

“I didn’t expect Louis to get that worked up.” Harry admits.

Liam blinks at him, “Is he going to be alright?”

Harry shrugs, “Yeah, he should be. Louis just really cares, ya know? Especially about his friends. Their problems become his problems, sort of thing.”

Liam nods and Louis returns, throwing an arm around Harry’s shoulder. He smiles timidly at Liam before nudging Harry,

“I wanna get out of here. Are you ready, Harry?”

Harry grins and nods, “Yeah.” He looks at Liam, “See you later, Liam!”

 

~*~

 

Liam, once again, almost forgets he has his workshop until he’s about to head to the library for a long night of studying. It’s almost six o’clock when he’s practically running into the lecture hall, only to find it empty.

He chuckles to himself and shakes his head, “Why do I always do that?” he mutters to himself.

“Always do what?”

The voice is deep and raspy, and Liam’s stomach flips over when he turns around and sees Zayn leaning against the door frame.

Liam’s face flushes and he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly while shrugging, “Nothing, I—it’s stupid.”

Zayn gives him a smile and a disbelieving look before making his way over to a desk in the front, dropping his bag on top of it, “I find that hard to believe. You’re far from stupid.”

Liam blushes again and clears his throat, “Well, thanks.”

Zayn nods, “You’re welcome.” He pauses while he pulls out his notebook from his bag, “So, you gunna teach or what? What did I miss?”

His tone is playful as is his smile, but Liam doesn’t miss the tired look in Zayn’s eyes, and the bags underneath them. His skin is paler, and Liam is overcome with a sense of worry and an urge to just _ask_ if everything is all right.

He refrains from doing so however, because he doesn’t want a repeat of last time. He smiles softly at Zayn and pulls up the power point to the first slide, which reads: “Cancer and Psychology”.

Liam notices that Zayn stiffens at the topic, but relaxes when Liam speaks, “Are you ready to start? If you have any questions you can ask them whenever you want.”

Zayn just nods in response and Liam begins the power point, going over exactly what Dr. Cowell did in the class earlier that day.

They get to the slide where psychological stress is discussed, and Liam looks to Zayn, who is doodling in his notebook.

“Zayn?” Liam asks.

Zayn looks up quickly, and quickly covers what he is drawing and gives him an apologetic smile, “Sorry Liam. Got distracted.”

Liam nods, “That’s okay. Erm, what do you think psychological stress is?”

Liam is thankful when Zayn actually thinks about his answer instead of just giving up. Zayn hums and then answers, “isn’t it like normal stress…except it messes with your psychological…stuff?”

Liam chuckles, “Care to elaborate?”

“Like, it can affect your willingness to do stuff, maybe make you depressed.”

Liam considers this, “That’s definitely possible. Do you think there is a link to stress and illness?”

Zayn nods, though he wavers a bit, “Maybe, sure.”

“And how about a link between stress and cancer?”

Zayn’s face goes dark if that’s even possible, and Liam immediately feels like he did during their last session, when Zayn got angry with him. Zayn swallows thickly and he takes a deep breath before closing his notebook.

“I’m sorry, Liam, but I honestly don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Zayn says this with an odd sense of ‘I’m too cool for this’, and he leans back into his chair, folding his arms over his head.

Liam blinks, “You don’t?”

“Not really. I don’t know how you can do this all the time. All of this psychology stuff.”

Liam just shrugs in response because not a lot of people do get it, and he’s kind of disappointed that Zayn doesn’t.

“I really think we should get back to the power point,” Liam says.

Zayn frowns, “I really don’t want to talk about cancer anymore. Can we talk about something else?”

Liam considers him, “Like what?”

Zayn’s eyes light up for a split second before he’s glancing around the room. “Like…how did you get this job?”

Liam leans against his desk and folds his arms over his chest, “I applied for the UTA position and I got it.”

Zayn rolls his eyes playfully and smirks at him, “Just like that?”

Liam shrugs, “Just like that.” And it’s true. He didn’t have to do anything extra to get the position. Everyone knew he would get it, and he earned it by being extremely involved in the psychology department.

“The department must love you.” Zayn says.

Another shrug from Liam. “I guess so.”

“You’re very modest.” Zayn observes with a smile before he asks another question, “Why do you like this stuff?”

Liam gives him a questioning look. “This stuff?”

“Yeah, like, psychology. Why do you like it?”

Liam hums. “I guess I don’t really have a concrete reason. I just like it? Like, it’s one of the things I really get and really enjoy, ya know? I like the idea of helping people, and being the reason a person can feel better after a shitty day, or a shitty week. I don’t know, it’s more complicated than that, but yeah, that’s why, I think. I can’t really put it into words that well.”

Zayn nods in understanding, “I get it, I think. I like that. That’s a good reason.”

“Glad you think so.”

Zayn’s lip quirks up and he folds his hands into his lap. “I have another question for you.”

Liam laughs, “Go ahead.”

Zayn looks up from where his eyes were trained on his lap, “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Liam is taken aback by this question and steps forward, closer to Zayn’s desk, “Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”

Zayn sighs, “Not many people are nice to me when they first meet me.”

Liam gives him a soft smile, “Well, this isn’t our first time meeting, right? Plus, Louis and Harry are nice to you aren’t they? That counts for something.”

Zayn scoffs and focuses his attention to the ceiling, still leaning back in his chair. “They’re a fluke in the system.” He finally says after a few moments.

“I think you know that I’m right,” Liam says after a chuckle.

“Let me rephrase,” Zayn says, “Not many people like _you_ are nice to meet upon first meeting me.”

Liam feels his heart drop from his chest into the pit of his stomach. What the fuck does that mean?

He asks this, “What do you mean?”

Zayn smiles to himself in disbelief, “You’re just so nice, Liam. You really care about people, ya know? And I’m…”

Zayn trails off and looks away from Liam, and Liam has the urge to wrap his arms around Zayn and tell him all of the things he likes about him.

He refrains, of course.

“You’re…” Liam begins tentatively, “You’re what?”

Zayn scoffs to himself and shakes his head before looking at Liam again, “Not nice to other people? Especially people who need me, and people who care about me.”

Liam feels the bubble in his chest that wants to ask Zayn a million questions, but he knows better than to do that. He doesn’t want to push Zayn away when they’ve gotten closer over the past day and a half.

“You’re nice to me.”

Zayn shakes his head, “Well I wasn’t at first. Not really. Not last week…”

Liam steps forward and gives him an empathetic look, “Well that’s all water under the bridge, remember? We started over, right?”

Zayn’s lips quirk upward, “Yeah, I do. But that doesn’t mean anything.”

“Of course it does.”

“How?”

Liam frowns for a moment before deciding on an answer, “It means you’re capable of changing. Like, I don’t know what’s going on with you, if anything is going on at all. But you say you’re not nice, right? But look at you now. You’re being nice. If you can do that with me, you can do that with other people too, ya know? I mean, we started over, right? Who is to say you can’t do that with anyone else in your life?”

“You don’t know anything about my life.”

The way Zayn speaks doesn’t have Liam worried that he is going to bolt out the door, but it still makes Liam tense. He visibly stiffens, but relaxes at Zayn’s soft facial features.

Liam bites his lip and clears his throat, “I know I don’t. And I’m not going to ask you about it unless you bring it up to me first. Just. I’m just saying, everyone deserves a clean slate. Don’t exclude yourself from that just because you don’t think you’re worthy of it.”

It’s after a few moments that Zayn really smiles at Liam—a real smile. The kind of smile that has Zayn’s tongue poking at the back of his teeth. The kind that makes his eyes shine and his tiny dimple prominent.

“You really are nice, Liam.”

Liam blushes, “I’m also just very honest. And I mean everything I say.”

“I noticed.”

They are smiling at each other and Liam thinks it could go on forever, except that someone could walk by and think a million and one things that could possibly get Liam fired, so he breaks eye contact and clears his throat again.

“So, can I finally get a question in for you, or are we just going to play ’20 questions with Liam’ until the hour is up?”

Zayn smiles again, “Well—“

_PUT MY MONEY WHERE MY MOUTH IS, AND I LAID MY CARDS. I’M A GO OUT FIGHTIN’ AND LEAVE MY SCARS._

Zayn curses and pulls out his phone, and looks at the caller I.D. He gives Liam an apologetic look before pointing to his phone,

“I’m sorry, Liam. I have to take this.”

Liam’s heart drops but he nods understandingly, “No it’s no problem. Take it. Labrinth is awesome, by the way.” Liam says softly, pointing to Zayn’s phone that’s still ringing.

Zayn grins and grabs his bag before waving to Liam and exiting the room, taking the call as he does so.

Liam waits until he knows Zayn has left Wilson Hall before letting his head hit the desk and a small whine escapes from his lips.


End file.
